Firefighters to sift hotel debris, two missing

LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) Emergency services hope to sift through the smouldering debris of a razed hotel in Cornwall today to search for clues as two guests remain missing after a fire which gutted the building.

One man died falling from a window after the Penhallow Hotel in the holiday resort of Newquay was ungulfed in flames early yesterday and four people are in hospital, one in a critical condition.

High winds fanned the smoking wreckage today as a mechanical digger cleared debris around the site but firefighters said it was still not safe enough to enter the gutted remains.

''It will be a very delicate and intricate operation,'' police Superintendent John Green said.

''Fire and police specialist teams are gong to work to ensure a meticulous and detailed investigation to ascertain exactly what happened.'' More than 100 firefighters arrived shortly after midnight to find the blaze sweeping through the tall white-fronted building which forms part of an Edwardian-era terrace.

Eighty-six mainly elderly residents were evacuated from the hotel but two are still unaccounted for. Police said two other people who had been missing since the fire had now presented themselves to officers.

Guests at the hotel spoke of how the inferno had ripped through the building in minutes and that they had been lucky to get out alive.

''It's just unimaginable really. It was a frightening experience,'' a tearful Julia Rouse told BBC TV.

''I'm just so grateful that myself, my husband, my son and my mum and dad are okay.'' Rosemark Snook said they couldn't use their nearest fire escape because of the fire.

''We had to run to the other end of the hotel and just fortunately the flames were meeting us as we got down the stairs,'' she told the BBC.

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

REUTERS RKM PM1805