File photo/Reuters

LONDON: Firefighters battled a blaze in a tower block in central Manchester, northern England, on Saturday with flames engulfing several apartments on the ninth floor.

The Manchester fire service said it had sent 12 fire engines to tackle the blaze in the Northern Quarter of the city and urged people to avoid the area. It told those living nearby to keep doors and windows shut.

The local Manchester Evening News said it was not yet known if anyone was hurt in the fire but said several ambulances were at the scene.

Britain is still reeling from a fire that ripped through the Grenfell Tower social housing block in west London that killed 71 people on June 14.

That fire was Britain?s deadliest since World War Two, gutting the 24-storey building that housed a multi-ethnic community living in a poor area within one of London?s richest boroughs, Kensington and Chelsea.