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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 19 October 2007

Matthieu Tworkowski: ‘I hung from the ledge’

Flatmates leap to safety as fumes trap them in first-floor bedroom

Office worker recovers in hospital after breaking her leg escaping early-morning blaze

A HOTEL receptionist has described how his flatmate broke her leg as she jumped from a first-floor bedroom window to escape fumes from a smouldering fire.
Matthieu Tworkowski has spoken to the Tribune of the dramatic escape he and his flatmates, Nicholas Sorin and Maureen Buikhak, made from their terraced home in Belfont Walk, Holloway, as the blaze spread below them early on Monday.
Hotel office worker Ms Buikhak is recovering at Whittington Hospital in Archway after smashing her leg on a refuse cupboard door as she leapt to safety from the window.
Mr Tworkowski said: “I was just beginning to sleep when I smelled something burning. I opened my door. The stairs were full of smoke so I called Nicholas.
“It was impossible to go out the front door. He went downstairs to the kitchen but it was too smoky so he came back upstairs and told us we have to go out by the window.”
Mr Sorin, who was first to jump, hung from the window by the tips of his fingers before dropping to the ground.
Mr Tworkowski said: “It was OK for us. I hung from the ledge with my hands but I think maybe Maureen panicked. She was frightened. She hit the door.
“She couldn’t walk any more. She said she couldn’t move. She broke her leg.
“It all happened too quickly. Nicholas knocked on the neighbours’ door and they called the fire department. All we could do was wait for the firemen.”
Ms Buikhak is waiting to learn from doctors whether they will have to operate on her leg.
Fire investigators are looking into the cause of the blaze, but Mr Tworkowski believes it could have stemmed from an iron that may have been left on.
Tony Silvester, who lives behind the house, said: “All we heard was someone smashing the door. I opened the kitchen window to check everything was all right. It seemed more smoke damage than anything else.
“We didn’t think anyone was in. They all work late. If I’d known someone was in there I would’ve helped.”
Another neighbour told how she was wakened by the sound of firefighters breaking the door down.
She said: “I heard this banging. I thought it was someone trying to break into my house. I looked outside. I could see the firemen. It was all kind of calm.”
A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said two fire engines and 10 firefighters attended the blaze, which caused 10 per cent damage to the ground floor.

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