The body of a man has been found dead in a flat above Surbiton charity shop The Fircroft Trust, after a fire broke out earlier this morning.
He has yet to be identified or his next of kin notified.
George Quback, who works in Cancer Research UK, in Victoria Road, saw the emergency services arrive at the scene.
He said: "I went round the back of the shop and saw the police try to break the window, but they couldn't do it.
"Then the firemen tried to break the window but they couldn't do it, so they used a ladder to go through the window of the first floor.
"It all happened very quickly, the police and ambulance were here in about five minutes. They evacuated the houses next to the building."
One St Andrew's Road resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "We were asleep but we just heard a lot of fire alarms and then there were a lot of police coming over.
"We didn't know what was happening, we looked out of our window and there was a lot of smoke.
"I could see it coming from the first floor above the charity shop, the smell was really strong. The whole block was in smoke.
"We got out of the house and our other neighbours were standing around on the street. It was really bad."
The cause of the explosion has yet to be determined.
A post mortem will be scheduled to take place in due course.
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