Trump Tower fire: Man dies in blaze at New York property

Image copyright Reuters/@ZionLee_

One man has died and four firefighters have been injured in a blaze at Trump Tower in New York.

The victim was a male resident of the building who was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital, fire officials said.

US President Donald Trump has a home and an office in the building, but is currently in Washington.

The fire erupted on the 50th floor of the high-rise, which contains apartments and office space.

The cause of the blaze has not yet been released.

Thick black smoke and fire was seen coming from the skyscraper at around 18:00 (2200 GMT).

Around 45 minutes later - before news of the death emerged - the president tweeted that the fire was out. He said it had been "very confined" as the tower is a "well-built building".

The Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department, Daniel Nigro, later warned that the situation had been complicated by "a considerable amount of smoke" in the building.

"We found fire on the 50th floor of the building. The apartment was entirely on fire. Members pushed in heroically, they were knocking down the fire and found one occupant of the apartment who is in critical condition," tweets from the fire service quoted him as saying.

"This was a very difficult fire. As you can imagine, the apartment is quite large, we are 50 stories up.

"The rest of the building had a considerable amount of smoke. 200 Firefighters and EMS (emergency medical services) members are on scene.

"We had many floors to search, and stairways."

Streets surrounding the building in Midtown Manhattan were closed off.

A spokeswoman for First Lady Melania Trump confirmed that she and their son Barron Trump were also in Washington.