A ten-month-old baby was among seven people taken to hospital after a fire at a flat.

A fire spokesman said yesterday the blaze had been caused due to an unattended pan of oil.

Firefighters went to the ground floor flat at Brampton Court, Broadway, Jaywick, at 1.40pm on Sunday.

Sub-officer Terry Roberts said: "It did look quite a fire when we turned up. There was a lot of smoke coming out of the windows but there was hardly any fire. It was confined to the chip pan and it had not damaged the kitchen."

The occupants had been elsewhere in the flat when they were affected by the smoke. One man went to the kitchen and discovered the fire and the rest of the household then fled.

There was one man, two women and two children aged two years, one of ten and another of ten months inside at the time.

They were all taken to Colchester General Hospital by ambulance but none of their conditions was life-threatening.

Mr Roberts praised the people as they had pulled out the fuse to the cooker to turn it off, closed the front door as they left and handed a key to firefighters when they arrived.

However, he added: "I don't believe there was any smoke detector which would have alerted them. It would have made a lot of difference."

All the people managed to get out of the house by the time fire crews arrived. Two firemen wearing breathing apparatus and using a hose reel put the fire out within ten minutes.

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