Bottling plant gutted by fire
A soft drinks bottling plant in Belfast has been gutted after flames swept through it in an overnight blaze.
Eleven fire engines were called to the Cantrell and Cochrane plant on the Castlereagh Road in the east of the city to deal with the fire, which was reported at 1.30am.
A roof collapsed during efforts to bring the blaze under control. A fire officer also fell during the operation but his injuries are not believed to be serious.
Sam McIntyre, a senior divisional officer with the fire service, said the cause was still being established.
‘‘The damage is quite extensive at the moment. It was a light construction and obviously with the very hot fire it perished very quickly.
‘‘The danger for firefighters was that the roof collapsed at an early stage and prevented us from getting into the core of the fire but as things settled, we were able to do that and the fire has now been extinguished.’’
