A 21-year-old Shropshire student was critically ill in hospital today after being rescued from a burning flat at a university halls of residence.

Fire chiefs in Liverpool said Kieran Murphy was minutes from death after firefighters with breaking apparatus found him unconscious on the floor of a communal kitchen in the accommodation at Liverpool Hope University.

Firefighters said he was barely breathing and surrounded by thick toxic black smoke.

The student, of Broseley Wood, is in intensive care at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital after the blaze just after 4.30am today.

Mr Murphy, who suffered smoke inhalation and burns to his hands and arms, was discovered to be missing after a block of six flats was evacuated.

Four firefighters with breathing apparatus found flames had engulfed the second floor communal kitchen with toxic smoke filling the building.

Within a minute they found Mr Murphy and carried him outside where he was given oxygen.

A spokesman for the university said he was today in a critical but stable condition in hospital where he was being treated for smoke inhalation and burns.

Toxteth’s Red Watch manager, Adam Peers, 40, told the Liverpool Echo: “There were dreadful conditions, poor visibility and huge volumes of smoke.

“The man had stopped breathing and we thought we might lose him. We used the oxygen bag and after 10 minutes he started to show signs of recovery and breathe on his own.”

Mr Peers added: “The whole team did a fantastic job in a very tight and confined space they did well to find him within a minute.

“If he’d been in there any longer he wouldn’t have survived.”

The university spokesman said: “Kieran Murphy, aged 21, is in intensive care being treated for the effects of burns and smoke inhalation. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

“Kieran is an education student in his third year of a Disability Studies course.”

He added: “Kieran is very much in our thoughts today and we all wish him a speedy recovery. The good news is that no-one else was hurt.”

Fire investigation officers are at the scene but it is thought the fire may have been caused by a chip pan.

By Lisa Rowley