Two people have been taken to hospital after a blaze at an apartment block in Belfast city centre.
A total of 80 residents were evacuated from the premises after the fire took hold at a building on Great Victoria Street at around 2am this morning.
Eight fire appliances and 55 firefighters attended the scene alongside NI Ambulance Service (NIAS), PSNI and Belfast city council representatives, Belfast Live reports.
NIAS confirmed two people had been taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
John McPoland from NIAS said: "We received the call shortly after 2am and responded to the scene with multiple resources.
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"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.
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"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.
