Two people have been taken to hospital following a fire at a block of flats in Belfast city centre this morning.
A total of 80 residents were safely evacuated from the building on Great Victoria Street shortly after 2am when a fire broke out on the first floor.
Eight fire appliances and 55 firefighters attended the scene alongside NI Ambulance Service (NIAS), PSNI and Belfast city council representatives.
NIAS confirmed two people had been taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
John McPoland from NIAS told Belfast Live: "We received the call shortly after 2am and responded to the scene with multiple resources.
"Two people were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital to be treated for the effects of smoke inhalation, while another two dozen were relocated to a community centre on Sandy Row which the Ambulance Service assisted with."
A NI Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We received a call at 02.10am this morning to attend a fire in 97 Great Victoria Street, Belfast.
"In total 8 Fire Appliances and 55 Firefighters from Central, Cadogan, Springfield, Westland, and Lisburn were involved in tackling the blaze that started on the first floor.
"Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fire using firefighting jets and searched the 6 floor premises.
"All 80 occupants were safely evacuated following extensive smoke spread. NIFRS worked alongside Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Belfast City Council to relocate occupants to nearby community centre until the incident was dealt with.
"The incident has now been scaled down and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.”
Great Victoria Street had been closed for several hours while the blaze was dealt with but has since reopened.
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