More than ten horses have died following a fire at a livery yard in Burnham.

Crews from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service were called to Maldon Road shortly after 11.30pm yesterday after passers-by spotted a fire in a large stable building.

They did everything they could to save some horses from the building, however despite their best efforts, a number of horses died at the scene.

Firefighters from Maldon, South Woodham Ferrers, Tillingham Rayleigh Weir and Corringham attended the incident.

Essex County Fire and Rescue have since confirmed that 12 horses were killed in the fire.

Station Manager, Craig McLellan said:"When firefighters arrived they found the fire was already well developed. The whole building was alight and the roof had collapsed.

"Firefighters worked hard to tackle the fire and stop it from spreading to any other building. However, despite the best efforts of passers-by who managed to save a number of horses from the building, some horses have tragically died at the scene."

Firefighters worked throughout the night to extinguish the fire and are still at the scene dampening down and checking for hot spots.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage. An investigation is underway to find out how the fire started.