30 dead in Iraq hotel blaze
Sulaimaniyah (Iraq), July 16: Guests leapt desperately to their deaths from upper-floor windows as a fire tore through a hotel in northern Iraq killing 30 people, 14 of them foreigners, police and medics said today.
Citizens of Australia, Britain, Canada and several Asian and South American countries were among those killed in last night's blaze in Sulaimaniyah, which raged for seven hours before being brought under control, officials said.
A preliminary report prepared by the city's hospital said people from 12 countries had died.
Visiting telecommunications engineers from Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Cambodia, were among the victims, according to hospital officials and the chairman of the telecoms company.
"The number killed is 30, among whom there are 14 foreigners," said Rikot Hama Rasheed, the director of Sulaimaniyah hospital, following the fire, which rose rapidly from the second floor of the six-storey Soma hotel.
"The regional government will contact the embassies of the foreigners who were killed," said Rasheed, listing Iraq, Ecuador, Venezuela, Lebanon, South Africa and Bangladesh as among the victims' nationalities.
(AFP)
Lastupdate on : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST
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