Scot survives backpacker blaze

Gary is on a working holiday in Australia

A Scottish student is among the survivors of a horrific fire at a backpackers hostel in Australia.

Gary Paton, a 20-year-old from Milngavie, Glasgow, broke down in tears as he phoned his father to say he had survived the tragedy.

Gary told his father how he escaped from The Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers, north of Brisbane, and how some of his friends perished.

The blaze happened in Queensland

It is thought 15 people died in the fire which it has been suggested may have been started deliberately.

Gary is in Australia on a working holiday visa, and the area around Childers is popular because of the opportunities for work fruit and veg picking on farms.

His father Willie, a fireman, said: "He was okay, but he just cracked up, he was distraught at the fact that some of his friends were missing presumed dead in the fire.

"He kept on saying there's 15 dead, 15 dead. He told me how he managed to get out.

"He crawled along a corridor with several others through the heat and smoke and got out an escape which wasn't that far away...but through the smoke and the heat it seemed like an eternity."

Mr Paton added: "They got out and there were people jumping from verandas."

Willie Paton says his son was "distraught"

Strathclyde Fire Brigade has been in touch with its counterparts in Australia to arrange for Gary's needs to be looked after.

About 70 people were rescued from hostel, which was ablaze when firefighters arrived there at about 12.30am local time on Friday (1430GMT Thursday).

Many of them escaped from the burning building by clambering out of windows and running across the roofs of nearby buildings.

Firefighters carried out a rescue using hydraulic platforms. Nine survivors were taken to the hospital for smoke-inhalation.

The blaze took four hours to bring under control.

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard called the fire a "terrible tragedy".

Survivors will be put up in two hotels in the town for the next few days and internet cafes have been cleared to allow them to send e-mails home to friends and family.