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Two confirmed dead in house fire Man and woman die in house fire
(about 2 hours later)
Two people have died and a third is missing in a house fire in Essex. A man aged 80 and a woman of 70 have died in a house fire in Essex, while a third person, believed to be a relative staying with them, is missing.
Fire crews were called to Mill Lane in Saffron Walden just after 0830 GMT and found a three-storey semi-detached house on fire. Fire crews were called to Mill Lane in Saffron Walden just after 0830 GMT and found the first floor of a three-storey semi-detached house on fire.
The first floor is alight and crews wearing breathing apparatus are continuing to tackle the flames, which have spread to the roof. The flames spread to the roof, and crews had to tackle the fire wearing breathing apparatus.
Essex Fire and Rescue Service said two fatalities have been confirmed and one person was still unaccounted for. A gas leak in the house hampered the search for the third person.
Firefighters were using a thermal image camera to search for the third person, but have had to withdraw from the building as it is structurally unsafe. Firefighters used a thermal image camera to search for the third person, but had to withdraw from the building for a time when it was declared unsafe.
Unsafe Firefighters had to withdraw when the building became unsafe
The urban search and rescue team will work to make the building safe before crews go back inside to search for the third person. Senior divisional officer Julian Ashley said: "If there is a third person in the property, it is unlikely that they would have survived the conditions."
Senior divisional officer Julian Ashley said: "The intensity of the fire has severely damaged the structure of the buildling. He added: "We will resume our search once the house is safe.
"There are still pockets of fire in the roof but we have had to pull crews out because the building is unsafe. "The fire is now out, although there are still a couple of hotspots.
"Once urban search and rescue has made the building safe we will resume our search for a third casualty believed to be inside." "Operations have been hindered by a gas leak inside the house, which means we cannot commit crews inside at the moment.
A joint police and fire service investigation will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire once it has been extinguished. "The Gas Board is on the scene trying to locate the leak and isolate the supply so that we can continue to look for the third person."
A joint police and fire service investigation will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire once the building has been made safe.