Amajor fire has broken out at a railway station in London on Monday afternoon.
Approximately 100 firefighters are battling the blaze near Elephant and Castle station, the London Fire Brigade said in a news release.
Videos posted on social media showed massive plumes of smoke billowing into the air near the station South London, with witnesses reporting that an explosion took place.
One bystander’s video shared on Twitter shows a massive ball of fire exploding out of the side of the station.
Sara Scarpa, 25, who lives in nearby apartment building, told the BBC: “We opened the window for a sec[ond] as you could hear people shouting, and we smelt something very, very strong.
“The smoke [was] dying down a little… we heard an explosion and now it started again,” she said.
The fire service said three commercial units underneath railway arches were on fire, as well as six vehicles and a telephone box. A man is being treated at the scene by paramedics, it added.
“There are significant road closures in place and we are asking people to avoid the area and keep windows and doors closed whilst firefighters work to bring the fire under control,” Station Commander James Ryan, who is at the scene, said in a statement.
“The station and nearby buildings have been evacuated.”
