July 16, 2010
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A fire at a hotel in northern Iraq killed 29 people and wounded 22 others Thursday night, police and health officials said.
The fire broke out at the Soma hotel in the city of Sulaimaniya about 11 p.m. The city is in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Among those killed were women, children and foreigners, including at least one American, officials said.
A short circuit was blamed for starting the fire.
Jabbar Yawer, the spokesman of the Iraqi Kurdish security forces, told CNN that a Filipino, a Cambodian and a Sri Lankan -- all engineers who worked for a local cell phone company -- were among those killed.
Yawer said that the company's headquarters is close to the hotel and many visiting employees stay there.
Heath officials in Sulaimaniya told CNN that most of those who died were suffocated by smoke because there were no side stairs for an emergency escape in the hotel and the windows are very thick and hard to smash.
But the officials said three young men were able to jump from the hotel's fifth floor in an attempt to save their lives. Two of them died and the third was critically injured, the officials said.
Sulaimaniya is the capital of a province of the same name, and it is one of Iraq's three Kurdish provinces. It's about 280 kilometers (173 miles) north of Baghdad.
During the summer, the hotels in the city are usually packed with tourists from southern provinces because Sulaimaniya is considered a safer city and the weather is nicer.
Iraqi tourists were among those killed, officials said.
The fire broke out at the Soma hotel in the city of Sulaimaniya about 11 p.m. The city is in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Among those killed were women, children and foreigners, including at least one American, officials said.
A short circuit was blamed for starting the fire.
Jabbar Yawer, the spokesman of the Iraqi Kurdish security forces, told CNN that a Filipino, a Cambodian and a Sri Lankan -- all engineers who worked for a local cell phone company -- were among those killed.
Yawer said that the company's headquarters is close to the hotel and many visiting employees stay there.
Heath officials in Sulaimaniya told CNN that most of those who died were suffocated by smoke because there were no side stairs for an emergency escape in the hotel and the windows are very thick and hard to smash.
But the officials said three young men were able to jump from the hotel's fifth floor in an attempt to save their lives. Two of them died and the third was critically injured, the officials said.
Sulaimaniya is the capital of a province of the same name, and it is one of Iraq's three Kurdish provinces. It's about 280 kilometers (173 miles) north of Baghdad.
During the summer, the hotels in the city are usually packed with tourists from southern provinces because Sulaimaniya is considered a safer city and the weather is nicer.
Iraqi tourists were among those killed, officials said.
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