Body found after disused buildings blaze

One person died and two others were injured when a fire swept through two boarded-up buildings early today.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said the victim's body was found in one of the burnt-out properties in Digbeth, Birmingham, after fire crews had tackled the blaze.

An ambulance service spokesman said a Hazardous Area Response Team (Hart) was sent to the scene in Bradford Street at about 4.15am, where they found a man in his 20s suffering from smoke inhalation.

He was taken to Birmingham's City Hospital.

Another man, who was sleeping at the rear of one of the buildings, was taken to Heartlands Hospital after being led to safety.

The ambulance service spokesman added: "As firefighters continued to search the building, they again asked for the Hart team to enter the building.

"The body of a person was found in the burnt-out property. Unfortunately, it was immediately obvious that there was nothing that could be done to save them and death was confirmed at the scene."