People are still unaccounted for from the Royal Albion hotel as crews continue to tackle the fire.

George O’Reilly, group commander at East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, told The Argus he is yet to receive confirmation everyone left the hotel safely.

He said: “We haven’t had confirmation that all of the rooms were evacuated prior to us arriving.

Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the fire here.

“It’s not uncommon in a hotel so we’re working with the management and police to track down those guests who are staying here.

“There are people still unaccounted for but I’m confident it’s just a case that we need to get hold of them, so the sooner we do that the better.”

The alarm was first called in at 5.24pm yesterday (July 15) with more than one hundred firefighters since brought in to tackle the blaze.

The old section of the hotel has been completely destroyed and demolition work will soon begin so firefighters can gain access to the building and safely extinguish the fire.