Staff have been injured and an aardvark and possibly four meerkats killed in a fire at London Zoo.
A firefighter works to control the fire at London Zoo in London on December 23, 2017. Photo: AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS
London Zoo, in Regent's Park, has been closed after the fire broke out in a shop and cafe near the meerkat enclosure about 6am GMT. It spread to the shop before the 70 firefighters and 10 fire engines brought it under control about three hours later.
One person was taken to hospital and eight were treated at the scene with six treated for smoke inhalation, London Ambulance Service said.
The zoo said an aardvark called Misha died in the fire and four meerkats were still unaccounted for, presumed dead. The zoo was shut on Saturday but said it would reopen on Sunday.
Misha the Aadvark feeding in her enclosure at London Zoo in London. Photo: AFP PHOTO / ZSL LONDON ZOO
The cause of the fire is not yet known. Photographs posted on social media showed orange flames rising from the building.
In a statement the zoo said it was "devastated" about what had happened.
Duty staff who live on site were on the scene "immediately" and started moving animals to safety, the zoo said.
"Sadly our vets have confirmed the death of our nine-year-old aardvark, Misha. There are also four meerkats still unaccounted for, but we are now presuming these have also died.
"All other animals in the vicinity are being monitored closely by our vets, but early signs suggest they have not been affected. We will continue to monitor them over the coming days.
"We are all naturally devastated by this, but are immensely grateful to the fire brigade, who reacted quickly to the situation to bring the fire under control."
Zoo director general Dominic Jermey said the area had been closed down.
"We're absolutely devastated that Misha the aardvark has been killed and we're still trying to find out what has happened to the meerkats, but at the moment the site where this fire took place is closed down."
Adnan Abdul Husein said he saw the blaze from a nearby park when he was out walking his dog, and alerted zoo security.
A London Fire Brigade firefighter at the zoo fire early on Saturday morning. Photo: AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS
"It didn't look like smoke just coming out of a chimney - it was quite heavy", he said.
"As I got closer to the zoo I could see that it was actually inside the zoo so I went over to the security and told them, 'there's flames or there's smoke coming from inside there, do you know anything about it?'. And they obviously didn't have a clue."
London Fire Brigade station manager Clive Robinson, who was at the scene, said three-quarters of the cafe and shop had been affected by the fire and half of the roof.
He said: "Firefighters worked hard to bring the fire under control as quickly as possible and to stop it from spreading to neighbouring animal enclosures."
The cause of the fire is not yet known, London Fire Brigade said.
- BBC