Major fire devastates Glasgow School of Art

Glasgow, June 16 (IANS) Glasgow's world-renowned School of Art has been ravaged by another huge blaze, four years after part of the building was destroyed by fire, emergency services said on Saturday.

More than 120 firefighters were at the scene to tackle the blaze at Mackintosh Building, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said on Twitter.

Flames destroyed the building after it caught fire at around 11.15 p.m., on Friday, a BBC report said. The facility was completed by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1909.

No casualties or injuries were reported in the blaze that spread to nearby buildings, including the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC music venue, which suffered "extensive damage". The renovated Mackintosh library had been due to reopen next year.

It was earlier devastated in the blaze that ripped through the building in May 2014. It was being restored in a project estimated to cost up to 35 million pounds.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's Deputy Assistant Chief Officer Peter Heath said the fire damage was "exceptionally significant". He said it was likely that all the restoration work carried out since the last fire had been destroyed.

Unlike four years ago, art students were not using the now fire-ravaged building for their degree work. Nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.

"This is a very sad morning in the city of Glasgow," Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a statement. "Glasgow School of Art is an institution that is loved not just by its students, staff and the people of this city, but by many around the world."

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