Six people died and 30 were rescued after a fire swept through a tower block in Southeast London Friday.

The BBC reported the blaze developed quickly. Special rescue units supplemented 100 firefighters who responded, Tom Chidley, deputy assistant commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, said.

Emergency workers took 20 people to the hospital and two were admitted. Among the dead were a 3-week-old baby, two children, ages 6 and 7, and a woman in her 30s.

The fire apparently started in a stairwell in the 12-storey Lakanal House which is on the Sceaux Gardens Estate in Camberwell, and spread to communal areas between the fourth and 11th floors.

Witnesses said they first saw smoke and then heard an explosion.