Nine people were killed in a fire that broke out in a hotel in Ukraine, the state emergency services authority said.
ADVERTISEMENTNine people were killed in a fire that broke out in a hotel in Ukraine, the state emergency services authority said.
Firefighters were called to the blaze early on Saturday at Tokyo Star in Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea in the south of the country.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement that eight people had died and 10 more were injured.
It later said the death toll had climbed to nine.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said several of the injured were in a critical condition in hospital.
But it gave no information about how the fire started nor how many people were staying at the hotel when it broke out.
The hotel Tokyo Star has 273 rooms.
It took firefighters about three hours to extinguish the fire, which had raged over an area of about 1,000 square metres, the service said.
Zelenskiy, in a statement on Facebook, said: "And it's [the deaths and injuries] not because of war and shelling. It's because of criminal negligence and ignoring the elementary norms of fire safety, because of the superficial attitude to human life. This will end.
"Personally, I will ensure that the punishment complies with the law and the requirements of justice. You cannot put your own income above human life.
"My sincere condolences to the relatives of the dead."
"Thanks to the rescuers and the police. Special thanks to the residents of Odessa who sheltered the rescued guests of this hotel."
Video and pictures from the National Police of Ukraine
