Eight Killed In Hotel Blaze In Southern Ukraine - Emergency Services

At least eight people have been killed and another ten injured in a massive fire that broke out at Tokyo Star Hotel in Odessa, a port city in southern Ukraine, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Saturday

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th August, 2019) At least eight people have been killed and another ten injured in a massive fire that broke out at Tokyo Star Hotel in Odessa, a port city in southern Ukraine, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Saturday.

The incident took place on early Saturday morning, and the blaze was raging on an area of about 1,200 square yards.

"Eight people were killed and 10 people were injured in the fire. [At least] 136 people were evacuated during the fire," the emergency service said.

Over 60 people and about 13 pieces of equipment were deployed to battle the blaze. The authorities have opened an investigation over the violation of fire safety requirements.

A citizen of Lithuania and a citizen of Sierra Leone were injured during the fire, a local health department official said.

A fire check at the hotel was planned in July, an official from the emergency services said at a briefing. However, a representative of the emergency service was not allowed at the facility because the hotel owner changed the form of ownership, he added.

In the meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would personally oversee that the hotel owner was punished by law. He also expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims of the deadly blaze.