More than 200 firefighters have responded to a blaze in Dagenham , east London . The flames broke out in a building , with around 100 people, including children, having already been evacuated .
Two people were injured at the moment and taken to hospital.
According to Sky News, a " major search and rescue operation " is underway.
London Fire Brigade said the building, described as a mixed-use residential and commercial development, had " a number of fire safety issues ". Work was underway to replace the external cladding panels.
The large-scale start of this type of renovation in the capital and other English cities began after the fire at Grenfell Tower , a social housing block that was devoured by flames on the upper floors on 14 June 2017 on the edge of London's Kensington & Chelsea borough, in which 72 people died, including a couple of young Italian architects originally from Veneto. As it turned out, the fire had been fueled by low-cost flammable panels installed on the facade by the private managers of the former public building thanks to deficient fire safety regulations and in the wake of a series of previous alarms that had been ignored.
Investigations have already begun at the Dagenham building to understand the cause of the fire .
(Unioneonline/vl)