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Australian
sailors fire
'heroes'
The swift action of five Australian
sailors sightseeing in a Japanese
port saved a family from a burn-
ing building, a nary spokesman
said yesterday.
The sailors from the destroyer,
HMAS Perth, had stopped at a
roadside stall in Kagoshima on
their way back to the ship when
they heard screams.
A father, mother and child were
trapped on the roof of a three-sto-
rey building while fire raged on
the first floor.
The sailors grabbed a fire extin-
guisher and garden hose and
fought the fire until the fire bri-
gade arrived 10 minutes later.
The spokesman said the sailors
stayed on the scene providing
support and were later hailed as
heroes by the fire chief, who pres-
ented them with caps and badges
at an impromptu ceremony.
The rescue cements an already close
relationship between Kagoshima
and Australia: the port is a sister
city of Perth and the fire brigade's
badge features a koala. More-
over, the building at the centre of
the incident is in a street called
Perth Avenue.
The navy said the rescued family
suffered from smoke inhalation
and one of them had minor burns.
The sailors were: Petty Officer Gra-
ham Campbell, of Cherrywood,
Leading Seaman Andrew Burke,
of Fairlight, Leading Seaman
Owen Redman, of Chatswood,
Leading Seaman Paul Krekel-
berg, of Blacktown, and Able Sea-
man Karl Forcey, of the Gold
Coast.
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