Dozens dead in Iraq hotel fire

A fire in a hotel in northern Iraq has killed 29 people and left at least 40 wounded, hospital administrators say. The fire spread through the Soma Hotel in Suleimaniya during the night, killing women, children and foreigners. Some died jumping from their windows to escape the flames, which broke out late on Thursday, witnesses said.

City officials said it was likely that the fire was started by an electrical fault, with no indication that it was a result of a terror attack. It was seven hours before the blaze was brought under control, officials told reporters. "I saw three people jump from their floor to escape the fire, but they were killed when they hit the ground," Kameran Ahmed, who owns an electrical supply shop next to the hotel, told reporters.
At least four children were killed, the Associated Press quoted local chief of police Brig Gen Najim al-Din Qadir as saying. Hospital officials told the AFP news agency that four Americans were among the dead. Also reportedly killed in the fire were engineers from Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, and at least one Canadian. Some of the firefighters battling the fire were also injured by smoke inhalation. Suleimaniya, 160 miles (260 km) north-east of Baghdad, is a commercial hub of northern Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous area, a major site for oil exploration. It is thought that some of the dead work for international oil companies working in the region.