Firefighters contain flame at historic London arts centre

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00Billowing smoke above the London skyline after a fire broke out in the roof of Somerset House,

00:05located next to the River Thames.

00:08It's a historic building, which is home to a series of major art collections.

00:13Tourists and passers-by were left astonished.

00:16We were coming back from the other side of the river and realised that white-grey smoke

00:20was coming from the building.

00:22They're worried really, you know, obviously it's sad so I don't know what the extent of

00:27the damage is and how long it's going to take to repair it.

00:30These buildings around here are iconic, historic and, you know, tourists come to see them and

00:35don't want to see it wrecked.

00:37Staff and visitors were immediately evacuated.

00:41Somerset House is renowned for its collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings,

00:46including this masterpiece by Manet and this famous self-portrait by Van Gogh.

00:51Fortunately none were damaged as the fire broke out in a wing of the building that houses

00:55offices and does not contain works of art.

00:59Around 125 firefighters were called to bring the blaze under control.

01:04The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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