Hundreds of people have been evacuated after a “high quantity of chlorine gas” leaked in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London.
A number of people are being treated for breathing difficulties after the 200 people were evacuated from the Aquatics Centre on Wednesday morning.
People could be seen being placed into ambulances while others were wrapped in blankets.
Residents in the area have been asked to close windows and doors.
Dozens of emergency service vehicles and workers were in the area, with surrounding roads cordoned off and members of the public denied access to the park.
READ MORE: Wildfire on Ben Lomond 'started with single cigarette' continues to burn
Firefighters said the plan is to ventilate the centre to disperse the chlorine into the atmosphere.
The brigade tweeted: “Update Aquatic Centre in #Stratford. Due to a chemical reaction a high quantity of chlorine gas was released inside the centre.
“While we ventilate the premises we would ask those residents in the immediate vicinity to close their doors and windows.”
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “Officers were alerted by London Fire Brigade at 9.53am on Wednesday to a leak of noxious fumes at the Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Park, E20.
“Officers and London Ambulance Service have also attended the scene.
“A number of people have been evacuated from the premises.”
London's mayor Sadiq Khan urged people to avoid the area.
He said: “I remain in close contact with our emergency services who are dealing with a gas-related incident at the London Aquatics Centre this morning.
“A number of people are being treated by London Ambulance Service. Please avoid the area which has been cordoned off and evacuated.”
A London Legacy Development Corporation spokesperson said it is working to ensure the park can reopen on Thursday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here