Firefighters rescue 13 people, including five children, from blaze in Hounslow

Firefighters managed to rescue 13 people, including five children, after a fire broke out in a restaurant below their flats on Hounslow High Street on Sunday night.

Crews used a ladder to bring three adults and a child to safety from a second floor roof and another two adults and two children were rescued by ladder from the first floor.

A further five people - three adults and two children - were rescued via an internal staircase by crews wearing breathing apparatus.

Ten other people escaped the flats above the restaurant uninjured before the Brigade arrived.

All 13 people rescued were assessed at the scene for smoke inhalation by London Ambulance Service.

The fire damaged part of the ground floor restaurant, part of the first floor and the restaurant's ducting (extraction system) between the ground and fourth floors.

The Brigade was called around 11.30pm, was under control by 3.30am on Monday morning.

Ten fire engines and 72 firefighters and officers from Heston, Feltham, Twickenham, Richmond, Hillingdon, Kingston and Southall fire stations attended the incident.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.