One dead after apartment fire in Oxfordshire, England

April 14, 2010

A man died as the result of an apartment fire in Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom. Members of the fire service were alerted to the fire, which occurred in the town of Banbury, at approximately 1030 BST on Wednesday. The man, whose identity has not yet been determined, was rescued from the basement apartment but was later pronounced dead. No other people were injured as a result of the fire, according to Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Thames Valley Police and the fire service are currently performing an investigation to try and establish how the fire occurred; the area has been blocked to allow a forensic perlustration to take place. Detective Inspector Steve Duffy commented: "At this stage the death is not believed to be suspicious. Together with the fire service we are conducting enquiries into how this has happened."

The police have stated that they are currently treating this death as unexplained. Inspector Helen Roberts, who is a member of Thames Valley Police, stated: "We are trying to find out the identification of the deceased male. We are speaking to family members of someone who lived there but because of the severity of the fire we are also having to do some other formal identification procedures."