Fire breaks out at Holiday Inn hotel 'housing asylum seekers'

A huge blaze has broken out at a Holiday Inn hotel believed to be housing asylum seekers in London. 

Around 40 firefighters and six fire engines were called to the scene on Empire Way, near Wembley Stadium in the north-west of the capital, at 12.34pm today.

Large plumes of thick black smoke were seen billowing from the building in footage shared on social media and the fire service has launched an investigation into the cause of the blaze.

The Home Office told the Daily Mail that the fire has been 'brought under control' but said it would not comment on individual hotels. 

The hotel has been 'temporarily closed' to guests since August last year due to being used to house an unknown number of migrants. 

Asylum seekers living in the Holiday Inn previously likened the conditions there to a 'prison'. 

Others complained about the food and said they had waited nearly two years to be found a new home. 

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade said: 'Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters are responding to a fire at a hotel on Empire Way, Wembley.