Eight die in Dutch club blaze

Doctors treating victims of the fire which swept through a New Year party in the Netherlands are losing hope of saving some of the injured.

Fifteen of the injured are said to be 'clinging to life' after the blaze in which eight people died.

Dutch police are investigating reports that the nightclub fire was sparked by a firework explosion

Seven men and a woman were killed when fire ripped through the club in Volendam, 10 miles north of Amsterdam, half an hour into the New Year.

Within minutes the temperature had reached 1,000C as revellers frantically tried to escape.

The town's mayor said he believed two of the three exits in the third-floor Het Hemeltje (Small Heaven) club were also block on the night of the blaze.