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The crew of the US segment of the International Space Station have been evacuated because of a leak of “harmful substances”, according to reports.

An official at the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the situation was now under control.

Russian news agencies reported six crew members, three Russians, two Americans and an Italian, were safe in the Russian section of the orbiting station.

There was an ammonia leak, according to reports.

The stations is split into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which has been evacuated.

News agency TASS reported: “An escape of hazardous substances from the cooling system inside the US segment of the ISS occurred at about 11:44am Moscow time. At the moment, the US segment has been isolated.

"The crew are safe inside the Russian segment. The presence of pollutants in the air inside the Russian segment of the ISS is within tolerance limits.

“The response of the crew and Mission Control shifts on duty in Moscow and Houston to the emergency was fast and well-coordinated. Now it is up to the US side to decide on further action to be taken inside the US segment.

"Mission Control in Houston is analysing the condition of the US segment of the ISS.”

NASA are yet to comment on the reports.

The space laboratory is a 15 nation project which is overseen by Russia and the United States.

It is manned by NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts, Russians Elena Serova, Alexander Samoukutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.