CHILDREN were thrown to safety from a first floor window and a family slid down a roof to escape a suspected arson attack on a block of flats in Newport last night.

Sixteen people were evacuated from nine flats in the three storey Marina Court block on Frederick Street, Pill. A number jumped to safety during a dramatic escape.

Witnesses described seeing children thrown from first floor windows into the arms of relatives, and fire officers used ladders and a hydraulic platform to pull residents to safety as they tackled the blaze.

Watch manager Alan Francis, of Maindee fire station, said one person was rescued by ladder while four were helped out of the building by crews with breathing apparatus.

The fire which broke out at around 11.25pm is being treated as suspicious by fire and police investigators, who were on the scene today.

Mr Francis said: "The fire started on the stairwell on the ground floor. From there it went through the building."

He added that police had rehoused those evacuated who would be unable to return to the building immediately, because of the "substantial damage" to the stairwell and hallway.

Marina Court resident Sebastian Swat, 27, slid down a roof to safety from his top floor flat with father Miroslaw, 54, mother Alina, 54, and friend Agnieszka Ciechocka, 30.

They returned to the scene this morning, covered in mud from the escape and wondering when they would be allowed to return to their home.

Sebastian Swat said: "We jumped out of the back window and slid down the roof. It was dark, freezing and scary.

"I think the fire started in the main entrance.

People were shouting and it was very loud."

The Swat family attended the Royal Gwent Hospital for blood tests and oxygen treatment after suffering minor smoke inhalation.

They were later housed in the Night Lodge Hotel, Stow Hill, by police.

Neighbour John Symonds, 60, who lives in an adjoining property, described seeing smoke billowing from the top of the building.

He said: "There was a lot of shouting and screaming.

"As I stepped outside I saw a child being thrown from a first floor window.

"He was only about five or six years old.

"Lots of people were screaming and then another child was thrown from another window on the first floor.

"I saw one woman being taken away in an ambulance. She was coughing badly."

Mr Symonds was evacuated from his house along with his elderly uncle and aunt, William and June Wilson.

One resident who spent the night sleeping in his car outside the block after being evacuated told the Argus the block's main fire alarm did not go off.

The man who did not wish to be named, said: "Everyone was shouting. When I opened the front door I could see so much smoke. There was no way through it so I just jumped out of the window."

He added that the main entrance to the block was always left open and that there had been recent problems with drug addicts hanging around in the hallway.

Crews from Maindee, Duffryn and Malpas attended the scene, in five engines, with around 20 firefighters.