A survivor of a devastating fire which ripped through a seafront hotel, killing one man, today spoke for the first time about his ordeal.

Harry Hill checked into room 33 at the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, at 7.30pm on Friday night, just a few hours before the blaze which destroyed the building.

The 49-year-old, from the Isle of Wight, was there to celebrate his 50th birthday and said that when the alarm went off he thought people were just playing around until staff started banging on his second floor room.

''I got out by one of the side fire escapes,'' he said.

''There were no flames where we were but as soon as we were out we could see the other fire escape was alight and there were two girls trying to make their way down it.

''We could hear shouting and screaming but could not see anyone inside because of the smoke."

Mr Hill's Rover car has had to be towed away by a recovery vehicle as the keys were destroyed in the fire.

He said he has lost all the belongings he had in his room.

Two people are still unaccounted for, after police said that two of the missing people had been traced, and demolition crews have almost finished their work to stabilise the remains of the building to make it safe enough for a detailed search.

At its height, the fire was tackled by more than 100 firefighters and witnesses described flames shooting 30 feet from the roof and said they felt intense heat 100 yards away.