Fire broke out this morning in a storage area of the Pliva pharmaceutical company in the centre of the historic city of Krakow just a few kilometres from the Old Town Market.

The warehouse is for storing production waste. No casualties have been reported.

Fire services say that the fire is now under control but the city centre is covered in thick smoke, which could be hazardous.

The fire occurs only two weeks after Pliva Krakow decided to dismiss 40 percent of the 600 strong workforce. The fire services don’t exclude that the warehouse was intentionally set on fire, but the cause has yet to be determined. (jm/pg)