Glasgow flats plunge kills three

The deaths of three people who plunged to their deaths from a high rise block of flats are not being treated as suspicious, police said last night.

The bodies of two men and a women were found at the bottom of a 30-storey block in Petershill Drive, Springburn, Glasgow, at 8.45am.

A Strathclyde Police spokesman said: "Inquiries are ongoing to establish the identities of the three people involved and post mortem examinations will take place in due course to establish the exact cause of death, however, at this time there does not appear to be any suspicious circumstances."

It is believed the victims fell from the 15th floor of Block 63.

Their 51-year-old neighbour said they had lived there for two months but she did not know them.

Local resident Elaine Sandford, 40, said she believed the deceased were Kosovans who faced deportation.

She said: "I think they had a letter through the door that said they were coming back for them.

"You only think you see these things on the telly. The same thing happened last year from another block but it wasn't as bad as this."

Elizabeth Neilson, 42, who lives in the opposite block, said: "I opened my blinds and saw them lying there this morning at about 8.30am.

"I saw two concierge standing there and three bodies lying on the ground.

"It is horrible. I was traumatised. I phoned the concierge and he said he couldn't say much, but that three people had thrown themselves off the veranda."

The concierge alerted the emergency services.

For much of the day the flats were cordoned off by police and officers stood guard. Two white tents covered the bodies and forensics officers in white boiler suits were at the scene.

Locals looked on from a recreation area near the flats while some residents hung over their own balconies to watch what was going on.

The incident happened at the Red Road flat complex which were at one time the highest flats in Europe.

Many of the flats are unoccupied as the local authority is moving residents out to new accommodation.

All eight of the tower blocks in the complex are due to be demolished in a phased programme due to begin shortly.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow Housing Association, which owns the flats, said: "We are very saddened to hear about the tragic incident at 63 Petershill Drive in the north of Glasgow.

"The police and the emergency services are continuing their inquiries and we are helping in every way we can."

She said 63 Petershill Drive is one of the blocks which is earmarked for demolition over the next few years.

In recent years some of the Red Road flats have housed asylum seekers from Kosovo, Africa, Asia, the former Soviet Union, Iran and Iraq.