Patients were evacuated on Wednesday as a renowned cancer hospital in London was ravaged by a major fire that destroyed a large part of its roof, emergency services and witnesses said.
No casualties were reported at the Royal Marsden Hospital in west London after dozens of ambulances and firefighters rushed to tackle the blaze in the plush Chelsea district.
Television images showed smoke and flames billowing into the air from the roof of the hospital. Staff said the fire started on the top floor of the building.
About two hours after the blaze broke out, a London fire brigade chief said that all patients and staff had been evacuated.
Seventy-five firefighters and 15 fire trucks were dispatched to deal with the blaze, dowsing the flames with hoses from ladders extended up above the rooftop.
Nurses could be seen taking pink mattresses along the road to a nearby church, which was used as an emergency ward for those evacuated. Patients were also taken to other hospitals in the area.
“Patients were carried on mattresses from the various hospital exits past my pub,” said Iain Heggie, owner of the Crown pub next to the hospital. “They were covered by blankets and others were walking.”
Dr Peter Blake, who works in radiotherapy, said he thought the blaze started in the roof of a new building, constructed in the late 1980s to add to older Victorian buildings.
“The roof is falling in, and there are bits falling off on to the outside,” he said.
“The fire started at the top of the building in the plant room as far as we can see. That’s where the air-conditioning system is. The problem now is that there is smoke coming through everywhere.”
The Royal Marsden was the first hospital in the world dedicated to the study and treatment of cancer.
With the Institute of Cancer Research, it forms the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe, seeing more than 40 000 patients from the United Kingdom and abroad each year. — AFP