02 May 2004	Sunday	11 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ROME, May 1: A fire swept through a luxury Rome hotel on Saturday, killing a Canadian couple and an American, and forcing US Open champion Andy Roddick and other tennis stars to flee, police and tennis tour officials said.

Roddick helped firefighters evacuate guests from the roof of the Hotel Parco dei Principi ai Parioli, where several U.S. tour groups and tennis players were staying ahead of the Rome Open Tennis Masters next week.

"There was a lot of panic. The fire destroyed the whole of the third floor. The fourth and fifth floors are severely smoke damaged," police official Luigi Rossi said.

The Canadian couple, Paul Emile Busque, 64, and his wife Bernice Marie Busque, 61, from Lac Frontiere, died of smoke inhalation after they barricaded themselves in their en-suite bathroom to escape the flames, Rossi said.

James Lowry, 58, from Georgia, plunged to his death from a balcony as he tried to escape using tied-together pillowcases. His wife had made it safely to the ground.

Rossi said the fire had been extinguished and investigators were looking at whether a cigarette or technical fault could be to blame.-Reuters