Fire yesterday destroyed part of the roof of Istanbul’s landmark Haydarpasa railway station, but local officials said no-one was injured.

Dozens of firefighters scrambled to tackle the blaze and fireboats hosed the six-storey structure from the Bosphorus.

The fire was brought under control after about an hour, officials said.

“There are no deaths, and no-one has been injured,” said Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu, adding that he had been saddened by the damage to the building, erected in 1909 to accommodate trains from Baghdad and Damascus which were then part of the Ottoman empire.

The cause of the blaze was unknown, but Turkish media reports said it was likely related to restoration work on the building.

The station, situated on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, is Turkey’s busiest.

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