Nine people have been injured and dozens evacuated after a huge blaze ripped through a tenement in the east end of Glasgow.

Emergency services were called to the fire, which broke out in a ground-floor flat in Fairburn Street, Tollcross, at around 11pm on Monday.

One woman was rescued by firefighters from a top-floor flat in the four-storey block, while seven other people were treated for a range of injuries including smoke inhalation and head wounds.

At the peak of the blaze around 50 firefighters were in attendance.

Firefighters remained at the site on Tuesday morning and said the incident was classed as "ongoing". Part of Tollcross remains cordoned off.

The cause has not been confirmed but witnesses at the scene reported hearing a "an explosion" prior to the fire.

Resident Chad Henshaw and his partner were forced to head towards the fire in order to escape. He lives on the second floor and is being treated in hospital.

Mr Henshaw said: "It was close to 11pm and we heard a large explosion. I looked out the window and could see some damage. Then we went out into the close and we could see that the wall had been blown in from that flat below on the ground level.

"There was no smoke at that point so we went to get some stuff to evacuate but by the time I had gotten anything the close was black with soot.

"My girlfriend and I got separated while we were trying to escape. Someone took her into their flat to get away from the smoke. It took me three attempts to get the courage to go down the stairs but I found her again on the way out.

"We quite literally had to run right next to the fire to get out. We tried to cover our faces but we were coughing and choking the whole way. It was terrible. Everybody is very shaken up."

All three emergency services attended and The Red Cross also helped at the scene to look after residents evacuated from their homes.

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman confirmed that following a request to set up a rest centre at Tollcross International Swimming Centre, the council then arranged emergency accommodation for 13 residents at a hotel.

Building Control attended the scene to make an initial assessment and will return with a structural engineer today.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "The service received a 999 call from a member of the public shortly before 11pm alerting them to a fire within the ground floor of the four-storey tenement building.

"Local fire crews from Clydesmill, Calton and Polmadie where immediately dispatched and on their arrival were met with a well-developed fire. The incident commander immediately requested further resources to deal with the fire and attend to casualties at the scene.

"Firefighters rescued one woman from the top-floor flat and are also working with the Scottish Ambulance Service in attending to eight casualties with injuries relating to smoke inhalation, head and physical injuries.

"A number of residents have been evacuated from the affected and neighbouring properties and the fire service have requested the attendance of the British Red Cross fire and emergency support service to assist in dealing with the evacuated residents.

"The service will be in attendance for some considerable time and, whilst their incident research and investigation unit is in attendance, the cause of the fire at this stage has yet to be determined."

Download: The STV News app is Scotland's favourite and is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from Google Play. Download it today and continue to enjoy STV News wherever you are.