BERLIN, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Firefighters are responding to a large blaze that broke out at a leading accelerator facility for research purposes in the south-western German city of Darmstadt on Thursday morning, according to police.
The fire has been brought under control but extinguishing work is expected to continue until the evening, police told Reuters.
A spokesperson added that the fire brigade was working to ascertain whether any hazardous substances had been released.
The fire brigade was not immediately available for comment.
According to the Hessenschau news outlet, the fire broke out in the area where the institute's particle accelerator is located.
There were no reported injuries, police said.
It is unclear how the fire began, a spokesperson added.
Pictures of the GSI Helmhotz Centre in Darmstadt showed huge, billowing clouds of smoke pouring out of the building.
The centre was not immediately reachable for comment.
It operates an accelerator facility for heavy ions, which are ions of especially heavy atoms such as gold or lead. Ions are atoms that have lost part of their shell of electrons.
They have a positive electrical charge and can be concentrated into beams and accelerated to extremely high velocities in electric and magnetic fields for experiments in various fields of research.
Nearby residents were warned to keep their doors and windows closed and to turn off their ventilation systems if possible.
(Reporting by Tilmann Blasshofer, Writing by Miranda Murray and Linda Pasquini, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
