Thousands of homes without water

BBC News channel

About 15,000 properties in south London were left without water for about seven hours on what was one of the hottest days of the year.

Thames Water said a major water main burst on Merton High Street in south-west London on Sunday morning, cutting supplies to customers.

Engineers managed to fix the leak and supplies were back on by mid-afternoon.

Some shops had to ration bottled water after people rushed for supplies as temperatures rose to about 30C.

Kingston, Merton, Wimbledon and Surbiton were among the affected areas.

Tesco in Kingston brought in rations of 12 two-litre bottles or three five-litre bottles of water per customer.

'Absolute disaster'

Bart Ricketts, a borough councillor in Kingston, said: "Sainsbury's in Surbiton was nearly sold out of water when I went there at 2pm.

"Families needed water even more in the hot weather but fortunately it wasn't off for too long."

A spokesman for Thames Water had earlier apologised for the inconvenience and said people with special needs, such as those with young children or people looking after the sick or elderly, could call the company's customer services for advice.

Thomas Hoskins, who lives in Wimbledon, south-west London, earlier told BBC London the problem was an "absolute disaster on a day like this".

Chris Gleeson from Raynes Park said: "I just went to the bathroom and turned on the tap to find no water, so I haven't been able to have a shower or flush the toilet.

"We do have bottled water so we've had a cup of tea this morning but it is causing real problems."

The incident also caused travel disruption with Merton High Street closed in both directions while the burst main was repaired.

South Wimbledon Station was shut due to flooding but later reopened.

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Second arrest over student deaths

Second arrest over student deaths

The two students were stabbed repeatedly and set alight

A second man has been arrested by police hunting the killer of two French students.

Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, both 23, were killed in a frenzied attack at a rented bedsit in New Cross, south-east London, on 29 June.

A police spokesman said a 33-year-old man handed himself in at a south London police station and had since been taken to hospital for treatment to injuries.

A 21-year-old man arrested on Saturday has been released without charge.

The badly burned bodies of Mr Bonomo, from Velaux, near Marseille and Mr Ferez, from Prouzel, near Amiens, were found with more than 240 stab wounds.

Post-mortem examinations gave the cause of death in both cases as multiple stab wounds to the head, neck and torso.

Tests also revealed Mr Bonomo suffered 80 wounds after he died.

The flat in Sterling Gardens, New Cross, which Mr Bonomo was renting, had been burgled on 23 June and a laptop was stolen.

Detectives believe their bank cards and two Sony PSP games consoles were taken on the day the pair were killed.

They have urged anyone who has been offered games consoles stolen from the flat to come forward.

Mr Ferez's parents said in a statement to those behind the killings: "Rest assured that we will not leave you in peace."

They also said his killer would "not be able to live in hiding forever".

Both men were biochemistry students and were in the third year of a masters degree at Polytech Clermont-Ferrand in central France.

They were in London because they had been chosen to take part in a research project at Imperial College and were due to return home within weeks.