Gardai are attempting to identify the body of a man who died in a fire in Tramore, Co Waterford, early yesterday.
The man, a foreign national in his 30s, was found dead in a bedroom in the attic of the house at Tivoli Terrace by fire fighters who were called to the scene shortly after 1 a.m. Two other men, from Gorey, Co Wexford, escaped from the house uninjured.
Gardaí believe the cause of the fire, which started in the bedroom of the man who died, was accidental. The other occupants were alerted to the danger when the man started banging on the floor and shouting for help. Mr Tony McCarthy, the chief fire officer for Co Waterford, said one of his housemates went to the door of the man's bedroom but was unable to guide him out.
It appeared that the man had considered jumping from the room as he had broken the windows. "The house looks quite small from the front but from the back, from where he would have had to jump, he was four storeys up," said Mr McCarthy.
The second housemate also considered jumping. After breaking his window and throwing a number of items out, however, he escaped through the house by putting a blanket over his head.
Mr McCarthy said units from Tramore and Dunmore East fought the blaze. The man's body was found on the floor between his bed and the bedroom window.
The most likely cause of the blaze was that the man had been smoking in bed, Mr McCarthy said.
"There was an electric heater close to the foot of the bed but it is more likely to have been caused by a cigarette."
The two men who escaped work on a local building site, but gardaí were unsure whether the dead man was working. He was initially believed to be from Lithuania but doubts about his identity later emerged. It is understood he had a girlfriend from Latvia.
Anyone with information about the man's identity is asked to contact Tramore Garda station at 051-381333.
