Migrants escape arson attack

Eight Portuguese nationals, including a child, have been rescued from a flat in an arson attack in County Tyrone.

The blaze was spotted at the property in Irish Street in Dungannon at about 0450 GMT on Sunday by a passing motorist who telephoned the emergency services.

An electricity meter and bins had been set on fire.

A police spokesman said the attack was being treated as "racially motivated".

Immigrants from Portugal and the Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - have increasingly been coming to Northern Ireland to work mainly in meat processing plants and on farms.

Local SDLP assembly member Tommy Gallagher condemned the attack.

"My first reaction is of relief - obviously there was a very great danger to the families," he said.

"There is a worry that lives will be lost if this sort of attack doesn't end soon."