Hunt for 3 youths after fire at Glasgow flats

Police are hunting three youths after the fire which tore through a development of flats under construction in Glasgow last night.

The fire started just after 7pm on Friday at Riverford Road in the Pollokshaws area of the city.

Up to 15 fire engines were needed to bring the blaze at Riverford Gardens on the south side under control.

According to witnesses on social media, the building was a block of flats in the process of being built.

Detective Constable Alyson Dowds said: “We are working to identify the three people who were seen entering Riverford Gardens around 6pm on Friday evening, they were in the area for about 15 minutes then left heading towards Riverford Road.

“The three of them were wearing dark coloured hooded jackets. One of them had fair coloured hair and one had dark-coloured hair. Two of them were wearing dark-coloured trousers with the other one wearing light-coloured jogging bottoms.

“We have been carrying out enquiries in the local area and studying CCTV footage to gather more information. I would ask anyone who may have seen these youths in the area to contact Helen Street Police Station through 101 quoting reference number 3331 of 27th December 2019.”

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said: "Firefighters have been working through the night to extinguish a fire within a five-storey unoccupied building at Riverford Road in Glasgow.

"One appliance and a high reach appliance remain at the scene to make the area safe.

"We were alerted to the fire at 7.11pm on Friday, December 27, and at its height fifteen appliances were in attendance.

"There are no reported casualties."

The blaze came after a man died following a flat fire in Parnie Street in the Trongate area of the city in the early hours of Friday.

Police said the man was brought out of the building and treated by ambulance staff, but pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigations are under way to establish the cause of the fire.

In another incident, two people were taken to hospital after a fire in a multi-storey block of flats in Kirkton Avenue in the Knightswood area of Glasgow just before 5am on Friday.

Fire crews extinguished the blaze in a property on the 22nd floor of the building.

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