Twin’s rescue bid ends in needless death

Press, 12 June 1989, Page 8

Twin’s rescue bid ends in needless death

PA Auckland A man who escaped unharmed from a house fire died after returning to rescue his twin brother. The police said Anthony Michael Jackson, aged 22, did not realise that his twin, Peter, had left the Birkenhead house before the fire.

About 7 a.m. on Saturday Peter Jackson awakened Anthony to tell him the oven had been left on and that he had switched it off.

Anthony then went back to sleep and his brother and another flatmate, Paul Howie, aged 22, went out.

The police said that about 10 minutes later, Anthony and the other flatmate, Carmen Regan, aged 18, were awakened by the smell of smoke and crackling of flames. Miss Regan climbed out of a bedroom window, followed by Anthony. When Miss Regan said she did not know the whereabouts of Peter Jackson, his brother dashed back into the fire, where he was overcome by the heat and smoke and collapsed.

Ambulance officers attended to him, but he died at the scene.

Senior-Sergeant Peter Mildenhall said the man’s death was a lesson to people to leave rescues to experts. “It’s really tragic that he should have to die going back to rescue somebody who wasn’t even there.”

Fire safety officers are investigating the cause of the blaze, which gutted the house.