Unconscious woman rescued from thick smoke

A police sergeant and two civilians rescued an unconscious woman from inside a garage engulfed in thick smoke early yesterday morning in Mellieħa.

The woman, 27, was found lying on the floor after losing consciousness as she blindly tried making her way out of the thick smoke from a fire caused by a fault in an electrical appliance. The officer and two of her neighbours in Triq is-Sajjieda carried her outside where a doctor who happened to be passing by administered first aid.

She was taken to hospital by an ambulance and kept under observation. Three passers-by were later treated on site for smoke inhalation.

A neighbour said he was woken up by the victim's screaming at about 12.30 a.m. and went outside to see what was happening. He found that other residents had broken the door down and were trying to rescue the woman but the smoke was too thick. Then, the police officer and the two men managed to make their way in and rescued her.

The fire had gone out on its own by the time a fire engine arrived on the scene. It was a small fire but still caused a lot of smoke.

The neighbour said the woman's father was foreign and her parents lived abroad, visiting the island occasionally. She lived in a garage they owned, which had been converted into living quarters.