A 14-year-old girl died in a fire at a block of flats in east London, police have said, as a teenage boy is questioned on suspicion of murder.

Emergency crews were called to the blaze in Tollgate Road in Beckton, Newham, on Thursday evening.

The Metropolitan Police said the fire is being treated as arson.

The force said a 14-year-old girl died and five other people at the address were injured, although their injuries are not life-threatening and they have since been discharged from hospital.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder, the Met said.

Chief Superintendent Simon Crick said: “Incidents such as these send shockwaves through our communities and I don’t underestimate the impact this will have in the local area and beyond.

“Your officers will be on patrol in the immediate vicinity over the Easter Weekend, please talk to them if you have any concerns.”

Flowers were placed at the scene of the fire on Friday morning, while two girls were seen hugging and crying as they placed tributes on the pavement outside the block of flats.

Another group, including two women, a man and a girl, were seen placing six bunches of flowers on the pavement next to police tape.

A section of the road remained closed off on Friday morning, with police forensic officers and firefighters at the scene.

The fire broke out in the block of flats opposite a Lidl supermarket around 5.30pm on Thursday.

The manager of the store, Raza Nowsin, told local news site MyLondon that people were jumping out of the windows to escape.

“People were running around everywhere,” the witness said.

“They had a mattress there and they were trying to jump on it but some people didn’t get to the mattress.”

Another witness told the site they saw “a person jumping out of the second-floor window as [they were] trapped, a sight I never thought I would see”.

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The mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, said she was “deeply saddened” by the incident.

She wrote on Twitter: “We are deeply saddened by the news that there has been one fatality already from the fire that broke out in flats in Beckton.

“Our deepest condolences to loved ones now in mourning.”

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