Two women killed in fire in Aberdeen

Two women have died and a baby has been taken to hospital following a fire at a block of flats in Aberdeen.

Emergency services were called to Back Hilton Road at around 6pm on Monday.

Police Scotland have confirmed that two women were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service sent seven appliances and two specialist units where they battled the flames for around three hours before leaving the scene shortly after 9pm.

They said five people were rescued and treated by paramedics on scene.

Neighbours in the area witnessed a woman and a baby being rescued from the top floor of the building.

Police said the baby was taken to hospital as a precaution and later discharged. Neighbouring properties were evacuated while emergency services dealt with the incident.

It's unclear when residents in the building will be able to return to their homes as officers remain at the scene this morning while an investigation is underway.

Neighbours evacuated

Ashley Finnie shares a wall with the property where the fire broke out and wasn't home at the time.

She first learned of the fire when she watched firefighters evacuate the building on her ring doorbell.

She said: "The fire brigade rang my doorbell it came up on the ring app. I saw them dressed in the full firefighting gear and at that point I realised there was a problem.

"I answered the door and asked them what was on fire they said it wasn't my flat, but one of the flats was on fire.

"I couldn't get anywhere near my flat because there was a police cordon quite far up, I couldn't even see what was going on but I could smell smoke."

Ashley was allowed back into her home today to collect some of her belongings.

"No suspicious circumstances"

She continued: "If you were just to look at it, it looks okay but the smell of smoke is quite acrid I think that's probably permeated a lot of soft furnishings.

"We share a wall essentially so I suspect a lot of the smoke has probably poured in that way."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "A joint investigation with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is ongoing to establish the full circumstances.

"However, there are no apparent suspicious circumstances at this time."

The road was closed for a time but later reopened.

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