Britain's Heathrow Airport was shut on Friday after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out its power, disrupting flight schedules around the world.

Around 70 firefighters were tackling the blaze in the west of London, which led to a mass power outage at Heathrow, Europe's busiest and the world's fifth-busiest airport, and also knocked out its back-up power system.

Huge orange flames and plumes of black smoke could be seen shooting into the sky. Around 150 people were evacuated from nearby buildings and thousands of properties were without power.