Stove suspected for boaters death

A BOATER died in his boat after it caught fire during the early hours of Monday morning, with fire fighters suspecting its wood burning stove.

The narrowboat was moored at Hilperton Marsh near Trowbridge on the Kennet & Avon Canal with an early morning dog walker alerting the emergency services, but the boat was covered in flames when the fire fighters arrived on the scene, Alan Tilbury tells us.

Pronounced dead

The fire fighters managed to pull a man in his 40's from the boat, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, with his pet dog also dying in the blaze.

Police are investigating the fire, but early indications we are told, point to the wood burning stove as the seat of the fire.

The boat was moored at private moorings at Marsh Farm on the waterway, and is now badly damaged by the fire. The identification of the boater has not yet been officially released.