London Zoo shuts as fire hits buildings

London Zoo shuts as fire hits buildings

London Zoo is shut "until further notice" after a fire at the attraction.

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At its height, more than 70 firefighters tackled the fire which started in its Animal Adventure section and spread to the adjacent shop.

The zoo said an aardvark, called Misha, had died in the fire and that four meerkats were unaccounted for.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said the blaze was now under control. The cause of the fire is not yet known and investigations continue.

Ten fire engines were called to the zoo, which sits in the capital's Regent's Park, shortly after 06:00 GMT.

Eight people were treated at the scene, six for smoke inhalation and two for minor injuries, London Ambulance Service said.

One person was taken to a north-west London hospital, the service added.

In a statement the zoo said duty staff who live on site were on the scene "immediately" and started moving animals to safety.

Adnan Abdul Husein saw the blaze from a nearby park when he was out walking his dog, and alerted zoo security.

"It didn't look like, you know, 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."

Fire 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."

 

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