Pop star Rihanna among 300 guests evacuated from the Corinthia hotel

Pop star Rihanna was forced to make an emergency evacuation from the Corinthia hotel in Whitehall in the early hours of this morning after a lift shaft caught fire.

The "Umbrella" singer was among 300 guests that had to leave the five-star property while emergency services attended the scene.

Around 10 firefighters were called to the incident after being alerted at 6.22am.

Clare Durnford, the hotel's public relations manager, told The Sun that the incident was not serious, and evacuation was just a safety precaution.

She said: "At approximately 6.30am, one of the service elevator motors at Corinthia hotel, London, burnt out. There was a slight discharge of smoke and because of our robust fire-management policy, the alarms were activated and a full evacuation of the building was carried out.

"As a matter of procedure, the fire brigade were called to carry out full safety checks throughout the building. All guests were safely accounted for and were allowed back into the hotel soon after 7am."

Rihanna, who chose to ride around London in the back of a taxi rather than wait outside the hotel for the all-clear, posted pictures of her experience to her Twitter followers, who number more than 22 million.

By Janie Manzoori-Stamford

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