One person was killed and a police officer seriously injured after fire broke out in a block of flats in the Kanaleneiland neighbourhood of Utrecht on Thursday evening.

Video footage shows the police officer climbing out of a second floor window and then dropping to the veranda roof, where he is helped off by three young men.

The fire started in a first floor flat and spread quickly to other flats in the complex. The body of a 70-year-old woman was found later by police in the flat where the fire had started.

According to the AD, the woman had been stabbed prior to the blast. The paper says one person has been arrested, possibly her husband, but this has not been confirmed by police.