A WOMAN has died following a fire in the centre of Marlborough this afternoon.

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service was called to the first floor flat in Angel Yard at 1pm, after smoke was seen coming from the building.

Crews from Marlborough, Pewsey and Hungerford attended, and four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus forced entry into the premises.

They quickly found the woman, thought to be in her thirties, within the flat and brought her outside.

However, despite the best efforts of fire crews, she was declared dead at the scene by South Western Ambulance Service.

Two hose reel jets were used to tackle the fire, which was contained within the affected flat.

The cause of the fire is now under investigation. The identity of the woman will be released by Wiltshire Police once next of kin have been informed.

Wiltshire Police duty inspector Marge McCallum said: “We are in the very early stages of the investigation.

“We received a report about 1 o’clock this afternoon in relation to a member of the public seeing some smoke coming out of the windows.

“Fire attended the scene and got entry into a room where they found the body of a female. We can say this female is now deceased and that we are in the very early stages of an investigation between the police, our crime scene investigators and fire investigators.

“So at this stage all I can say is we are investigating, after an examination has taken place we will be able to give further information.

“The scene will be locked down overnight in order to allow the scene to be investigated tomorrow morning. It is far too early to say when that will be concluded, sometime tomorrow I would think.

“As I understand it there was no one else in the flat. We have not released her details yet until the next of kin have been informed, but as I understand it she was the sole occupant of the flat.”