England team hotel evacuated in fire alert

Leeds:

The England team's hotel was evacuated in the early hours on Friday following a fire alarm, forcing the players to stand outside in heavy rain.

The players and staff were forced to wait outside the Radisson SAS Hotel in Leeds, northern England, hours ahead of the planned start of the fourth Ashes Test against Australia at Headingley.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said the England team's preparations for the five-day match were "disrupted" by the incident.

"It was a fire alarm. There was an evacuation at about 4:50am (0350 GMT) and then a nice little 20 minutes standing outside with the rain falling," an ECB spokesman said. "Two fire engines came to the hotel and then we were all allowed back in."

The toss is due to take place, weather permitting, at 10:30am (0930 GMT). Hosts England are 1-0 up in the five-match series.

A spokeswoman for the hotel refused to divulge what caused the fire alarm to go off but said it was "definitely not a prank".

She confirmed an internal investigation had been held and the matter "dealt with". She said "an incident like this could happen at any time".

She added: "I can confirm that at approximately 5:00am (0400 GMT) the hotel was evacuated due to the fire alarm being activated.

"Our prime and continued focus is to ensure the health and safety and wellbeing of all our guests and staff alike. "As a matter of pure precaution we evacuated the hotel. The hotel follows stringent health and safety guidelines and all our staff have been trained accordingly to handle such an incident."