A BADLY burnt woman is today fighting for her life in hospital following a blaze at a block of flats in Northfleet.

Beverly Percival, 39, is in a critical but stable condition at a burns unit at Basildon Hospital.

Firefighters left the picket line last night to help the armed forces tackle the fire on the Wallis Park estate. The injured woman was taken by ambulance to the specialist unit in Essex after army and navy crews rescued her from the blaze on the fourth floor.

Her teenage son, Denver, managed to escape but he then tried to get back in when he realised his mother was trapped inside. A neighbour said: "People were holding him back as he was trying to get into the flat to get his mum out."

Police are investigating the cause of the fire.