One killed as fire destroys popular lakeside hotel in Myanmar’s Yangon
The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.

A massive fire destroyed a popular hotel in Myanmar’s Yangon on Thursday, killing at least one person and triggering flames that took hours to douse, AFP reported. At least two people were injured.
The fire broke out around 3.15 am at the lakeside Kandawgyi Palace Hotel – one of the city’s best-known hotels – and was mostly extinguished by 7 am. Guests at the hotel were shifted to nearby accommodations.
Officials said 96 rooms were occupied with 141 guests when the blaze broke out, and most of them were foreign tourists, Frontier Myanmar reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
Pre-dawn fire guts popular Kandawgyi Palace Hotel in Yangon, a lakeside colonial-era teakwood building https://t.co/njBxFHFNgx pic.twitter.com/QuldRn6ULk
— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 19, 2017
Huge fire rips through Yangon's iconic lakeside Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, popular with foreigners, one injured https://t.co/ugzPb7WpYQ pic.twitter.com/B7ialwBGoc
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 19, 2017
Video: Huge fire breaks out in Yangon’s Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, #Myanmar, badly damaging valuable teak wood decorations pic.twitter.com/TbIPlVJqzX
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) October 19, 2017
In Yangon for a few days & our hotel caught on fire. Luckily my family and I were all able to get out safely. I hope everyone else did too. pic.twitter.com/qfyoKS8fFA
— DP3PO (@davidpowersIII) October 19, 2017
The teakwood hotel is owned by business tycoon Tay Za’s Htoo Group. The United States had imposed sanctions on Tay Za till last year for his close links with Myanmar’s former military regime.