Two children, including a three-week-old baby, were killed when a blaze spread rapidly through a 12-storey block of flats in southeast London yesterday, emergency services said.

Eighteen fire engines were sent to the scene and more than 100 firefighters tackled the fire which broke out in the building in Camberwell, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.

A Metropolitan Police spokes-man said the baby and a seven-year-old child had died in the incident.

An LFB spokesman said the fire had spread quickly from the fourth to the 11th floor and 30 people had to be rescued by firefighters.

Thirteen of them, six adults and seven children including the two fatalities, were taken to hospital.

There had been fears that dozens of residents might be trapped on the upper storeys of the building, but the spokesman said firefighters believed they had rescued everyone. The blaze had now been brought under control.

"The building is still being searched, but we are confident there won't be any more people involved. We're doing a systematic floor by floor search," the spokesman said.

He said it was too soon to say what caused the fire but a specialist team had begun an investigation.

Witness George Maddocks said he had seen a room of one of the flats engulfed by flames before windows began to shatter.

"I think the height may have been something of a problem," he told BBC TV, adding that much of the building was charred and blackened.