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August 31, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 8:52pm

Manchester editor in blaze rescue drama

By Press Gazette

A Manchester newspaper editor made the news after rescuing a man from a fire.

Lawrence Matheson, editor of the South Manchester Reporter, dragged a 60- year-old man out of a ground-floor bedroom after he saw flames coming out of a flat in Chorlton, Manchester.

Matheson, 40, said: “It was a pretty grim scene when I went into his flat. I couldn’t see anything. The flat was full of smoke.

“I looked on the floor and there was the body of this naked man lying there unconscious. I tried to lift him, but he was too heavy.

“I rushed outside for a few seconds to catch my breath. Then I put a jacket over my head, went back in and dragged him out.” The rescued man is recovering in hospital. The Reporter covered the story, but the modest Matheson declined to name himself.

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