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A fire which started in a street-level shop in Valletta this morning and quickly spread restarted at about 12.15pm and has filled the city with smoke.

The fire has left a 77-year-old woman fighting for her life.

It started just before 6am in a crafts shop in Old Bakery Street corner with St Lucia Street. It quickly spread to two overlying apartments but was put out by Civil Protection Personnel.

The 77-year-old woman was rescued from a second floor apartment  and her sister, 66, managed to flee before the fire spread. The older woman was trapped because the stairs collapsed.

This afternoon, the fire started in the kitchen of the second floor and quickly spread to the first. Fire fighters worked incessantly to stop the fire which blazed on in spite of the rain.

A neighbour told the firefighters that there was a gas cylinder in the kitchen and the next room had a fireplace. The room, she said, was full of wood and the fire was started by kerosene.

Earlier today, the Civil Protection officers rescued the trapped elderly woman who they found lying on the floor between a bed and a wardrobe. She was helped her down a ladder.

The woman is at Mater Dei Hospital's intensive therapy unit.

Part of the ceiling at the back of the shop also collapsed.

The rescuers searched the apartments - despite the dangers - but found no one else there.

The gutted interior of the shop, with the ceiling and stairs at the back collapsed