Apartment Block Catches Fire After Man Throws Shisha Coal Out Window

This is the shocking moment burning shisha coals thrown from a third-floor window set a 13-storey tower block alight.

CCTV footage has recently emerged showing how the fire started at a plaza on Lales Boulevard in Diyarbakir, in Turkey, on 23rd August.

The video shows the coal landing among cardboard on the ground below and igniting it before the flames take hold.

The fire spread quickly up the outside of the building, reaching the upper floors, several flats and the roof.

Fire crews, disaster management staff and police were sent to the scene after the alarm was raised.

Sixty personnel were deployed to the scene to fight the blaze.

A police water cannon vehicle was also brought in to support the effort with pressurised water.

Five people were affected by smoke, among them three firefighters, and all were taken to hospital.

They were discharged after treatment and none was seriously hurt.

An investigation was opened and cameras in and around the building were examined.

That review established that the coal had come from a flat on the third floor and had set light to cardboard lying on the ground.

The inquiry by the Diyarbakir chief public prosecutor's office is continuing.

(Joe Golder/Clipzilla/NX)