Bangkok hotel fire injures 12 tourists
BANGKOK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - At least 12 foreign tourists were injured in a three-hour fire at a hotel in central Bangkok early on Wednesday, a police officer said.
The fire, which appeared to have started in a ground-floor cafe under renovation, caused heavy damage to the Mandarin Hotel, patronised mostly by Asian and Australian tour groups, the officer told Reuters.
The injured guests, suffering from smoke inhalation, were mostly Japanese but only Australian Yohannes Hailab was admitted to hospital, hospital officials said. The rest were released after treatment
Some hotel guests complained to television stations that hotel staff were slow to alert and evacuate them when the fire started after midnight.
Hotel managers were not immediately contactable for comments.
