Littleport: Fire Investigation Continues

20 August 2013, 13:32 | Updated: 22 August 2013, 16:28

Investigations are continuing into what caused a house fire in Littleport in East Cambridgeshire, after the body of a man was discovered.

Flowers have been left at the scene of the fire in Kingsmead Court since flames broke out at around 11:20am on Sunday (18 August).

Firefighters were called after people living nearby were called to reports of an explosion.

It took crews around seven hours to extinguish the fire, before the body of a man was discovered.

Lindsey Gudgeon who lives in the village said: "I think it's awful.

My friend's brother's house is the one next door.

Awful and heartbreaking, to think that something like this has happened."

Another passer-by named Amanda, who lives in Littleport, said: "I'm just a bit shocked.

I wasn't sure whether anybody was inside the property, so it's very sad to hear that there was.

The fire was very intense, and the explosion was like nothing I've ever heard before."

Cambridgeshire Police continue to treat the death of the man as unexplained.

Crews from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Fire Service said: "During firefighting operations, the building became structurally unsafe. 

Norfolk's Urban Search and Rescue team were called to stabilise the building to enable firefighters to continue their operations and put out any remaining hotspots."

Update  Wednesday 21st August, 15:22 

Following the postmortem, the death is not being treated as suspicious and has been passed to the coroner.