Police close road for 10 days for house fire investigation

Police have set-up a 10-day road closure in an Aberdeenshire village as investigations continue into a serious house fire.

A man was taken to hospital and a woman, who was said to be in the house, remains missing following the fire in Gardenstown in the early hours of last Thursday.

Aberdeenshire Council said the closure from Monday, at Harbour Road in the Seatown area of the village, was in the interests of public safety.

The area where the house fire happened is narrow, making access difficult, and the request for the road closure was made by Police Scotland.

Local councillor Richard Menard said it was important to give the police and fire service time to carry out the investigation into the "serious" incident.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had sent four appliances out to tackle the blaze.

Access will be provided for emergency services and vehicles needing to get to properties.

The Scottish Ambulance Service said it was alerted shortly before 05:00 last Thursday.

It sent two ambulances and two special operations response teams to the scene.

One patient was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.