23/02/2009

Two Dead After 'Suspicious' Blaze

A teenage girl and her grandmother have died in a fire in a block of flats in east London, which police are describing as suspicious.

Seventeen-year-old Shannen Vickers and Pauline Adams, 57, were killed in the fire at Malmesbury House, in Cyprus Street, Bethnal Green, at about 6am on Sunday.

The fire brigade was called to the seven-storey property, where the victims were discovered in the rear bedroom of the three-bedroom flat.

Two men have been arrested - a 19-year-old who handed himself in at an east London police station and an 18-year-old who was detained in Harlow, Essex.

Post-mortem examinations will be held at the Royal London Hospital later. Next of kin have been informed.

Other neighbours had already evacuated the building when emergency services arrived.

(JM/BMcC)

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