Bodies of firemen found in warehouse wreckage

LONDON (Reuters) - The bodies of all three missing firefighters believed to have died in a warehouse blaze in Warwickshire have been found, police said on Tuesday.

"Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue have confirmed that the three fire fighters missing in the warehouse blaze at Atherstone on Stour have been located and recovered from the building," Warwickshire police said in a statement.

"A guard of honour, formed by members of all emergency services, lined the road as the three .... were taken from the scene of Friday's fire," the statement added. "All work on the site came to a stand-still and a minute's silence was held."

The three went missing after more than 80 firefighters were called to the blaze, which broke out on Friday evening at the vegetable packing warehouse at Atherstone-on-Stour in Warwickshire, that also killed the men's colleague and watch manager, Ian Reid, 44.

Police are treating the fire as suspicious.

Earlier on Tuesday, the fire brigade named the three missing firemen. The youngest was 20-year-old Ashley Stephens, the father of a three-month-old son. The others were Darren Yates-Badley, 24, and John Averis, 27.

Yates-Badley was described as "larger than life" by his family.

"(He) would speak to and help anyone he met," they said in a statement. "Darren treated everyone equally and with the same kindness."

Warwickshire's Chief Fire Officer William Brown described the men as heroes.

"Our work involves us in often difficult and sometimes highly dangerous call-outs. These professional men were doing their job of controlling a raging fire -- with a tragic outcome -- but their actions remain those of heroes."

He added: "The grieving has only just begun and will take a long time for us to recover and understand what has happened here."

Nine specialist teams from around the country are conducting an inch by inch search of the gutted warehouse but are facing a shifting building, and have been forced to rebuild sections of the structure.

They have searched up to 30 metres of the ground floor, Ranger said.

Jon Hall, assistant chief of Hereford and Worcester fire service, said on Monday: "It is an immense operation."

Employees and all people who had access to the building are being questioned, they said, as well as witnesses and firefighters.