Fire at Nottingham railway station being treated as arson

LONDON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- A huge fire that broke out Friday morning in Britain's Nottingham railway station has been treated as arson, British transport police (BTP) said.

Supt Sandra England, BTP's subdivisional commander for the Midlands area, said: "Enquiries have been ongoing today and we now have reason to believe the fire may have been started deliberately. Officers are working to identify anyone who may have been involved in the incident, and we are appealing for information from members of the public."

The fire, which is believed to have started in a public toilet in the new part of the building, has spread across the station concourse and into the roof. Both parts of the train station are heavily smoke logged.

A joint investigation between Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue and British Transport Police was launched after the fire broke out at around 6:30 a.m.

Firefighters are still at the scene dealing with the fire, which has been brought under control.

England confirmed that there are no reports of injuries as a result of the fire, but said that the cordons remain in place around the area and trains are not running. "It is likely the station will remain closed for the rest of the day."

Incident Commander Bryn Coleman said: "This is a significant fire in a prominent part of the city centre. Crew from across the county are working hard to extinguish the fire, and are liaising with our partner agencies to ensure a co-ordinated and targeted approach to this incident."

East Midlands Trains said while no-one was injured and everyone was accounted for, all services, including trains to London St Pancras, Liverpool, Leicester and Norwich, have been disrupted and engineers will need to assess the station before they can understand which trains will be able to run Saturday."It is anticipated that Nottingham station will not re-open today and we expect trains to be disrupted on all routes through Nottingham for the whole of Friday." Enditem