Smash hit

There were six patients in intensive care as well as three who were either in surgery or in recovery when the blaze broke out. They were all safely evacuated.

A spokesman for NHS London said that the entire hospital had been evacuated "very successfully", despite the number of seriously ill patients.

He added that the fire apparently broke out on the top floor of the hospital, where the power plant is and machinery equipment is stored, at about 1.15pm. By 4pm all patients and staff had been evacuated but the building was still ablaze.

Dr Peter Blake, who works in radiotherapy, said he thought the blaze started in the roof of a building constructed in the late 1980s as an extension to the original Victorian structure.

“The roof is falling in and there are bits falling off on to the outside,” he said earlier today.

“The fire started at the top of the building in the plant room as far as we can see. That’s where the air conditioning system is. The problem now is that there is smoke coming through everywhere."

Paul O’Byrne, a patient, said that people in his ward were initially kept inside as smoke and ash billowed past the window.

The 50-year-old chartered accountant was visiting the Royal Marsden for routine chemotherapy and was due to stay overnight.

He said he was waiting for his medicine to be made up when the fire alarm went off.

“The atmosphere was very calm and ordered,” Mr O’Byrne told reporters.

“Everyone in our ward was mobile, no one had actually had surgery, so they left us. We could see the smoke going past the window, it was really billowing past.

“It was remarkably calm but we saw firemen running in with rolled up hoses.”

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