Olympic Park inferno turns skyline black

An enormous plume of black smoke blotted out the London sky today after fire took hold in the Olympic Park.

Up to 100 firefighters were called to the scene in Stratford - site of the proposed handball arena for 2012 - when a huge cloud began rising hundreds of feet over the city travelling south, covering the entire Docklands skyline.

The cloud was visible from as far away as parts of Essex, Kent and Hertfordshire.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said the blaze was believed to have begun in a disused warehouse and it was thought to be burning diesel.

A witness said: "With the state of the smoke being given off, it certainly looks as though it's either chemical, petrol or diesel."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said there were no reports of an explosion and it was not terror related. The fire service was inundated with 999 calls from the public.

London Fire Brigade said crews were dealing with the blaze in Waterden Road after the first call at 12.06pm.

Up to 15 fire engines were called to the scene at the northern end of the Olympic Park, just south of the A12.

Firemen later got permission to take river supplies from the local river Lea. Brigade sources said they expected to contain the blaze by late afternoon, but smoke would continue late into the night with huge areas remaining cordoned off.

Lance Foreman, who owns a salmon smokery business, said: "I saw huge billowing clouds of smoke from my office window.

It's about half a mile from where we are, but it seemed just a few metres away."

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said there were no reports of injuries.

One witness said: "I am looking out of a hotel room and the fire is directly along the Channel tunnel route. It is all part of the Olympic site and that is where the flames are coming from. They seem to be under control, you can't see them jumping up. But there is a huge black cloud across the skyline. There was no bang or explosion."

Smoke engulfed parts of Stratford station, which serves the Jubilee and Central lines and a number of overland services. Services on the North London Line were cancelled. A TfL bus garage, Statford SD, which serves a large area of east London was evacuated, resulting in huge disruption to bus services.

Travel data firm Trafficlink said road chaos had been averted as Waterden Road was already closed to traffic for work on the Olympic site. London City Airport was unaffected.