Deeside fire: Hotel guests safe 'thanks to alarm'

Nearly 50 guests who fled from the Gateway to Wales Hotel in Deeside as fire ripped through the building were saved by the smoke alarm, a fire chief has said.

The blaze destroyed the first floor, roof and most of the ground floor of the hotel on Welsh Road near Queensferry in Flintshire.

The alarm was raised at about 04:30 GMT and 60 firefighters worked to put the fire out by 12:00. Nobody was injured in the blaze and a joint police and fire service investigation has begun.

Stuart Millington, senior operations manager at North Wales fire service, said the guests were safe thanks to the smoke alarm.