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Your English Newspaper
Issue 584 - 585
24 dEC 2010 - 6 Jan 2011
Panic in hotel blaze
Keeping the faith A new book has been released which tells the tale of the loss of a mother’s son after a courageous battle against Leukaemia. • p5
Record support for Poppy Appeal The Royal British Legion’s annual Poppy Appeal in Spain has raised more than €107,146 for the charity. With the announcement, British Vice-Consul Elizabeth Bell handed out medals for long service. • p17
by Jack Troughton
Christmas and New Year TV Guide Make sure you don’t miss your favourite festive programs by using our pullout TV guide which has all the listings for Christmas and the New Year. • p29
Christmas crafty ideas for the kids Christmas is here and children are off school, read Julia Evans art column to find out how to entertain children this Christmas. • p51
The final whistle Andy Kay’s weekly sporting column looks at next years sporting predictions… well, sort of. • p62
Joy bringer
We believe in Father Christmas!
Father Christmas delivered presents to children at a special Marina Alta school this week. The present were bought by the volunteers of the Original Charity Shop and Library in Javea. Read the full story on page 3.
See page 17
HOLIDAYMAKERS FLED their rooms in panic as smoke filled floors of a Benidorm hotel early on Tuesday morning. More than 200 guests were evacuated from the hotel as the flames took hold and 12 – all British tourists – needed treatment for smoke inhalation, nine being taken to hospital in Villajoyosa. And a 50-year-old Nottingham man is alleged to have torched his fourth floor room at the resort’s three star Ambassador Hotel where he was staying with his mother. Andrew Dmytruk was arrested calmly sipping tea in Bar Otelo – just across the road from the hotel’s entrance. He was identified from the hotel’s security cameras. Investigations continue but police sources speculated the arson attack was “a mischievous prank” after Dmytruk spent a night out
celebrating his milestone birthday. He is also likely to face charges of criminal damage relating to a fire that earlier damaged the terrace of a bar close to the hotel. The fire started at around 07.45 and the area was sealed off until the blaze – which gutted the hotel room – was brought under control two hours later. Firefighters needed to guide guests through the dense smoke to the ground floor – where the injured were treated – after six floors of the hotel were evacuated. Evelyn Dewar, from Wanlockhead, Dumfries, was staying in a room on the fourth floor, said she and her 75-year-old mother Elizabeth were forced out onto the balcony until they were rescued by firemen. “It was terrible, it was really frightening. I was up on the fourth floor and I was actually going to jump off the balcony,” she said. Continued on page 3