One dead, six missing in hotel blaze in Cornwall

LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) One man died and searches are underway for six other missing people after fire gutted a hotel in a holiday resort on the north Cornwall coast early today, emergency services said.

The victim, believed to have been a guest, is thought to have jumped or fallen from an upper floor of the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay after it was consumed by a raging blaze shortly after midnight.

''We know he did fall from one of the upper floors,'' said Stephen Otter, Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police.

More than 100 firefighters arrived shortly after midnight to find the blaze, fanned by the wind, sweeping through the tall white-fronted building which forms part of an Edwardian-era terrace.

Emergency services said the hotel had suffered severe structural damage and some floors had collapsed.

By morning, only the gutted shell of the building was still standing and workers were brought in to start demolishing some of the remains to allow investigators onto the site.

Eighty-six mainly elderly residents were evacuated but six were missing, and guests at adjacent hotels were also moved out.

Police said four other people were being treated for non-life threatening injuries in a nearby hospital.

''It's been an extremely difficult operation. It was an extremely large fire and when our crews arrived it was absolutely well developed,'' Jan Sturgess of Cornwall Fire Brigade told reporters.

''They were faced with not only a large fire that was on the ground floor and spreading to the rest of the building, but obviously a lot of people to rescue as well.'' Superintendent John Green said police were worried about the six who had not been accounted for.

''It may just be that they've managed to find a bed for the night and haven't quite arisen yet, but as time goes by of course we are concerned for the safety and well-being of anybody who may have been within the immediate area,'' he told reporters.

Green said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the blaze and fire investigation officers were at the scene.

Newquay, a resort town on the north coast of Cornwall, is known as a surfing centre and is close to miles of beaches.

REUTERS SKB HS1837