A man died in a narrowboat fire on the Oxford Canal while neighbours fought the flames with their own extinguishers because canalside firefighting equipment had been left padlocked.

The burnt-out boat

The 37-year-old, who has not been formally identified by police, died after fire broke out on the boat on which he was staying.

Friends living on neighbouring boats rushed to the man's aid, smashing windows of the boat, which was moored north of Godstow Bridge in Wolvercote, and tackled the flames with a hose-pipe and small fire extinguishers from their own craft.

Although firefighters were unable to drive a tender right up to the canal bank, Divisional Officer Eddie Murphy, of Rewley Road fire station, said access had not been a major problem.

He said: "When we got there the fire was effectively out, thanks to the good work by neighbours using a hose."

The fire, which was discovered at about 11.30pm on Friday was initially treated as suspicious by police, but it is now thought a candle might have been to blame.

Mr Murphy said: "Our investigators have identified that candles were present on the boat, but there is not firm evidence that they were a cause."

Narrowboat resident James Ross, 37, was among a group of six people who helped extinguish the blaze. He was about to go to bed when he heard someone screaming "Fire".

He said: "We smashed all the windows to try and get him out. All the windows were shut -- they were toughened glass so we had to break them with logs and bricks. I went in to see if he was alive. It was full of smoke. There wasn't any oxygen.

"The fire brigade couldn't get through at all. They did what they could but we had managed to put the fire out by squirting hoses through the windows.

"We did everything we possibly could but we were too late. It was very distressing."

Following the tragedy, members of the closely-knit narrowboat community are demanding their own keys to the equipment and better access for emergency vehicles.