Woman critical after house fire

Mervyn Jess reports

A 34-year-old woman remains critically ill in hospital after being rescued from a house fire in County Antrim.

The blaze broke out at a property in Church Street, Ahoghill, at about 2300 BST on Friday. It is believed to have been started accidentally.

Several young men tried to get into the house with a fire extinguisher but were beaten back by thick smoke.

Colin Dixon of the Fire and Rescue Service said neighbours told them there could be people inside the house.

"The Fire Service committed search teams and one lady was rescued from the ground floor," he said.

"She was in a fairly poor way at the time and we had to give her mouth-to-mouth at the scene.

Colin Dixon said the woman was found on the ground floor

"If neighbours hadn't told us about the people inside we wouldn't have found her so quickly. That has been a big factor in getting her out alive."

Neighbour Angela McClelland described the frantic efforts of people in a local bar to try to rescue the woman, before fire crews arrived.

"The smoke was coming out through the windows. So the young boys went back into the bar, lifted the fire extinguishers and took them up to try and put it out. But it was no good. It was too far gone," she said.

"The young boys came back into the bar and they were actually crying because they couldn't do anything, they couldn't get into the house to get the fire put out. It just exploded, the glass blew out of the windows. It was terrible."

The woman was taken to hospital where she is being treated for the affects of breathing in smoke.

The house was badly damaged in the blaze.

The Fire and Rescue Service said there was no smoke alarm in the house and urged people to have them fitted.