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A huge fire has engulfed a 27-storey block of flats in London, injuring a number of people and possibly trapping some residents inside the towering inferno.
The London Fire Brigade said it had sent 40 fire engines to the scene of the blaze at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington.
The fire broke out about 1:00am before spreading through the entire building from the second floor upwards.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said a "major incident" had been declared in response to the blaze which London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Dan Daly described as "a large and very serious".
More than 200 people live in the tower, but it was not clear how many people were inside.
Police said a number of people were treated for a range of injuries and the London Ambulance Service said 15 patients had been taken to hospital.
An Australian man who identified himself as Jodie told BBC Radio 5 he did not think anything could have been done to save some of the residents.
He said most of the building was "burnt up".
"Windows are broken, just an inferno inside," he said.
"I could hear the people screaming 'help me', and nothing could be done. The building was too big."
Two hundred firefighters were on the scene but Jodie said they were unable to reach those inside the building, who were unable to leave.
"People were looking down at all of the emergency crew and they were probably thinking, 'That's OK, I'm going to be saved, the fire brigade are here'," he said.
"So they were trapped in their flats, it was too smoky in the corridors, and eventually the flames have come around the building and engulfed every flat.
"The whole thing. Everyone from the top floor."
He said he struggled to find an entrance to the building when he arrived about 1:00am and had to break an apartment window to get in.
"I ripped through the window with the axe and I ran right around the building looking for an entrance, and there was only the one entrance which was the main entrance to the building, and debris was just falling down all around me," he said.
"[There were] big, big chunks of sheet metal coming down hitting the ground."
The cause of the fire was not known at this stage, the fire brigade said.
A resident action group had warned of the potential fire risk in the Grenfell Tower apartment block nearly 18 months ago, saying a build-up of rubbish during development works posed a serious fire risk.
'We could hear people screaming'
A woman who lived near the building said people could be heard screaming as the blaze quickly spread.
"I could see it from my garden, it was just there, the left-hand side piece there, just a couple of floors, and over the hours it just spread and it's gone around the left of the building as well," she said.
"I can't believe the way it's gone up so quick.
"We could hear people screaming, 'Help me, help me', and flashing their phone lights to let people know they were there. There's nothing … you're just helpless."
ITV reporter Jonathan Swain tweeted after daybreak that he could "see people trapped inside. Waving for help".
Footage filmed from outside the building a few hours after the blaze started showed at least one person looking out of a window.
Police have closed the A40 truck road to allow easy access to the fire for emergency services, while London Underground said Hammersmith and city and circle lines had been closed.
British television presenter George Clarke told Radio 5 Live he was covered in ash even though he was 100 metres from the scene.
He said he saw people waving torches from the top level of the building and saw rescuers "doing an incredible job" trying to get people out.
Police were holding bystanders back to allow ambulances to get access to the area.
ABC/wires
Topics: fires, disasters-and-accidents, united-kingdom
First posted