At least 19 people were killed and 23 injured in a fire that broke out at a hotel in China’s Harbin city on Saturday, reported Reuters. Authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze, the Harbin unit of China’s ruling Communist Party said on its Weibo account.

The fire broke out in the morning at the Beilong Hot Spring Hotel in Songbei District of the city, Xinhua quoted an unnamed official of the fire department as saying. It continued to burn for more than three hours before being doused at 7.50 am local time (5.20 am India time), reported The New York Times. The injured were sent to hospital for treatment, it said.

The fire in the four-storey building burned down an area of about 400 square metres, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The Ministry of Emergency Management sent a work team to Harbin to help out the rescue operations, reported Global Times.

Officials are trying to identify the victims.

The incident comes a day before an international marathon in Harbin, reported The New York Times. The hotel is located less than two kilometres from the marathon’s finish line.

Khyungse, deputy director of the fire control bureau in the Ministry of Emergency Management, said the incidents indicate a dereliction of duty. “Local fire departments should be fully prepared in this fire-prone period,” Khyngse told Xinhua.