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Fire breaks out in Pakistan hotel, killing at least 11

A Pakistani woman reacts to the death of her family member following a fire at a hotel in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016.
(Shakil Adil / AP)
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A massive fire swept through a four-star hotel in the southern port city of Karachi on Monday, killing at least 11 people, officials said.

More than 50 people suffered injuries in the early-morning blaze, which started in the hotel kitchen, police Officer Tauqeer Naeem said.

An exact cause of the fire was not known, he said, adding four of those killed were women.

Dr. Semi Jamali at Karachi’s Jinnah’s Hospital said some foreigners were among those being treated for burns. Suffocation caused more deaths, she said.

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Most of Pakistan’s buildings don’t meet safety standards to avoid such accidents.

TV footage of the incident showed guests at the hotel using sheets to climb down from windows.

“We tied the bedsheets together to make a rope, and used that to climb down from the fourth floor,” said Khalid Mehmood, one of the injured, speaking from his hospital bed. “We also had to jump midway, as the bedsheets weren’t long enough.”

A man standing at a balcony kept waving for help but the hotel didn’t have any means to reach him, a survivor, Hamid Ali, told a local Pakistani TV channel.

He said the guests were sleeping when the fire broke out.

“Four to five hours everybody was looking helpless, crying for help and nobody was there to help them,” said another of the injured, Muhammad Saeed, under treatment at the hospital.

Several Pakistani cricket players were also staying at the hotel, and one of them broke his ankle when he jumped down, said Naeem, the police officer.

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UPDATES:

6:24 a.m.: This story has been updated with quotes from people injured in the fire.

This story was originally published Dec. 4 at 11:25 p.m.

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