Global General

Hotel fire kills 29, including foreigners, in Iraq

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-16 16:58

BAGHDAD - A fire in a five-story hotel in northern Iraq killed 29 people, including foreigners, police and hospital officials in the city of Sulaimaniyah said Friday.

Chief of police Brig. Gen. Najim-al-Din Qadir said an electrical short caused the fire that also injured another 22 people.

The head of the health services in Sulaimaniyah, Rekwt Mohammed, confirmed the death toll.

Four children and four women were among the dead in the Suma hotel from a blaze that began late Thursday, said Qadir, adding that the victims included Bangladeshis, several people from African countries and at least one Canadian.

At least some of the victims were believed to have worked with foreign oil companies in Iraq's north, which has become a major site for oil exploration by international companies.

Sulaimaniyah is located 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. It's the second biggest city in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region.