Towels cause hotel blaze

A fire at the Sefton Hotel this weekend was caused by a pile of towels spontaneously combusting.

Fire fighters were called to Harris Promenade at 4.30am on Saturday morning where they found a blaze in the beauty salon in the basement.

The towels had remnants of sesame oil engrained in them which, after being laundered, had reacted with the cotton cloth leading to them setting on fire.

The Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service says due to the excessive fumes given off  the building had to be fully ventilated which took over four hours.