Twenty fire engines and 125 firefighters were called to a fire at a block of flats on Whitechapel High Street on Monday.

Crews tackled a fire on the 17th floor of the building. The London fire brigade mobilised its 64-metre ladder for the incident and said its control officers took more than 50 calls about the blaze.

The Metropolitan police said the building was being evacuated and by Monday evening, the fire appeared to be extinguished.

Station commander Chris Jenner, who was at the scene, said: "This was a dynamic and visible fire with our 999 control officers taking more than 50 calls in the early stages.

"A woman was trapped by the nature of the fire on the 17th floor. She was given fire survival advice by control officers until firefighters located her. Fire crews used a fire escape hood to help lead the woman to safety via the internal staircase.

"Around 60 people evacuated the building with others remaining in their unaffected flats.

"We mobilised a 64 metre turntable ladder to the scene. This is the tallest firefighting ladder in Europe and allowed us to get water onto the fire from outside the building.

"The professionalism, hard work and quick actions of control officers and firefighters limited the damage to the block and prevented serious injuries."

He said the fire was under control at 7.07pm, and its cause was being investigated.

London Ambulance Service took one patient to hospital, and crews checked a small number of people at the scene.

Transport for London's incident response team also attended the scene.

Eyewitnesses at the scene said glass panels were seen to be falling to the ground from a height of about 100 metres.

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he was in "close contact" with the London fire brigade commissioner, Andy Roe.

The structure, called the Relay building, is a 21-storey housing development that is run by three different companies – John D Wood, Network Homes and Rendall & Rittner.

According to Hondo Enterprises, which sold the building in 2018, it is a mixed-use development consisting of more than 7,000 sq ft of retail area, 97,000 sq ft of commercial office space and 207 residential flats.

It is located above Aldgate East tube station, between the City of London and the neighbourhoods of Aldgate and Spitalfields