Students had to be evacuated from their homes when a neighbour started cooking the world's spiciest chili with the world's spiciest sauce.

Panicked youngsters on Mauldeth Road in Fallowfield called in firefighters as fumes from the stove spread to neighbouring properties - and convinced them there had been a gas leak.

But after fleeing their homes they discovered that the source of the problem was the spicy recipe being cooked up next door.

Four homes on the road had to fumigated after the incident on Thursday, October 29.

Terri Moran, 19, had been enjoying drinks with friends at her home ahead of a night of Halloween festivities on Mauldeth Road, Fallowfield, when two of them were taken ill.

Fearing a gas leak they ran into the street and saw other people were also coming out of other houses.

She said: “We thought it’s got to be a gas leak, nothing else came to mind. We ran out of the house.

“We then saw the house behind us and another on our left that were doing the same thing.

“Everyone was quite scared because chilli never came to our mind and the only thought was a gas leak.

“I rang 111 and they said to ring 999. I said: ‘We don’t know what’s going on, we think there’s been a gas leak or maybe a burst pipe.’

“They told me to get everyone out of the house.”

Second year criminology and sociology student Terri said the fire brigade arrived on the scene quickly. She added: “We were quite panicky and the fire-fighters calmed us down. They came out of the house coughing and had to put gas masks on before going back in.

“They got a big industrial fan to ventilate all the houses one-by-one and opened all the door and windows.”

She said fire-fighters told her the case was the ‘weirdest they had dealt with in 20 years’.

Terri said the residents of the house the fumes had come from had said sorry over the incident, and had given out beers and alcopops by way of apology.

Terri said a few of the students had woken up with a ‘bit of a cough” the next morning but were otherwise okay.

Firefighters said they were called out just before 10pm on October 29 and spent half an hour dealing with the fumes.