Young architect dies trying to save fiance
A young British architect returning home from a party died while trying to save her fiance from a burning flat, an inquest into her death has been told.
Sophie Rosser, 23, tried to raise the alarm when she arrived home to find the East London building ablaze on August 26, 2012.
The Poplar Coroner's Court has heard Ms Rosser phoned her sleeping boyfriend Oscar Silva, 28, to rouse him and a flatmate and get them out of the flat.
The Daily Mail reports that Mr Silva fled to the balcony because the stairwell was filled with smoke.
Ms Rosser ran into the building but was found on the fourth floor by a firefighter Joseph Carter. Paramedics were not able to revive her.
"A cab dropped her off at 1.37 on Sunday morning and I was asleep. Sophie called me to say there was a fire and our flatmate and I should evacuate," the court heard in a statement from Silva.
"The intercom sounded but I couldn't hear who it was. The stairwell was full of smoke so we couldn't get out. We went back into the flat. I rang Sophie at 1.43 but there was no answer.
"I went to get the lift thinking she might have got in, but when it arrived there was nobody in it. I closed the door to the flat and went to open the balcony.
"I saw the fire brigade arriving and I saw paramedics doing their best to revive Sophie. When we got out I went to the hospital and I saw her twice, but she never regained consciousness."
Mr Carter told the inquest into Ms Rosser's death that she would have been overcome by the thick black smoke within seconds.
Resident Grace Adong said she left a damp towel over a lamp which seemed to have been the cause of the fire.
The inquest continues.
