A chip shop has been left gutted after a fire ripped through the premises on Fore Street, Callington, at 9pm on Wednesday.

Kelly's fish and chip shop was open, but only a woman who worked in the shop was there when the fire broke out. People were evacuated from the surrounding flats and firefighters fought the fire for two hours.

Fire crews from Callington and Liskeard were unsure as to how many people were inside the building when they arrived at the scene and had to use special thermal imaging equipment to locate people in the smoke.

Kevin Rookley, station manager at Callington, said: 'Language barriers made it difficult for crews to locate how many people were in the building and where they were, but eventually all residents in the nine flats were accounted for.'

The three-storey building had the floor of its basement cut away as smoke spread, but some people were allowed back into their homes after the fire was put out at around 11pm.

Teresa Mitchell, from Callington, said: 'I was on my way back from drama group around 9.30pm and the whole street was shut off with lights flashing, but I didn't actually see any sign of a fire or much smoke.'

A fire investigation team was determining the cause of the blaze yesterday morning, but it is believed it started in the basement of the shop. No one was injured in the fire and arson is not suspected.