Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet and her children escaped unhurt after a fire ripped through Sir Richard Branson's luxury home in the Caribbean.

Oscar-winning actor Kate Winslet and her children escaped unhurt after a fire ripped through Sir Richard Branson's luxury home in the Caribbean.

Other guests who fled the fire at the Great House on Necker island included Branson's 90-year-old mother, Eve, and his 29-year-old daughter, Holly.

"Around 20 people were in the house and they all managed to get out and they are all fine," said Branson, who was staying in another property 100 yards away with his wife, Joan, and son, Sam, 25.

Branson, 60, bought Necker island in the early 1980s and began building the eight-bedroom Great House in 1982. He said: "We had a bad tropical storm with winds up to 90mph. A big lightning storm came around 4am and hit the house. My son Sam rushed to the house and helped get everyone out. The main house is destroyed and the fire is not yet completely out. My office was based in the house and I have lost thousands of photographs, which is very sad."

He added: "It's very much the Dunkirk spirit here. We want to rebuild the house as soon as we can. We have a wonderful staff here and we want them to stay in work. We'll all stay here for the time being. There's a lot of damage and we won't be able to stick it back together again right away. It was a beautiful house."

Winslet, 35, who won an Oscar for her role in the 2008 movie The Reader, has a daughter, Mia, 10, from her first marriage to Jim Threapleton, and a son, Joe, seven, by second husband, the director Sam Mendes, from whom she is separated.