Brussels - Fire broke in the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels on Monday, prompting the building to be evacuated. "It looks like a fire (broke out). We don't yet know why or how it started," commission deputy spokeswoman Leonor Ribeiro da Silva told the German Press Agency dpa.
Dpa correspondents on the scene saw thick black smoke billow out from the building's roof. Witnesses spoke of "chaotic scenes" inside, with one saying smoke had also been spotted near the main press room on the ground floor.
Among those evacuated was EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, witnesses said.
At least two fire engines were rushed to the Berlaymont building in Brussels' European quarter.
Thousands of commission officials work each day in the Berlaymont, which was first built in the 1960s and renovated in mid-2004.
The commission acts as the European Union's executive body.
