Five-star hotel in China gutted by fire

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BEIJING, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A fire Thursday gutted a five-star hotel, part of a three-tower complex, in Shenyang, China, but authorities reported no casualties.

Shenyang is the capital of Liaoning province in northeast China.

The fire broke out early in the morning in Tower B, an apartment building in the Dynasty Wanxin building complex, and flames quickly spread to the adjacent Tower A, housing the five-star hotel, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The fire in the apartment building was extinguished. The third tower was not affected by the blaze, which investigators said was apparently caused by fireworks as people celebrated China's Lunar New Year, the report said.

All the guests in the hotel had been evacuated and no injuries were reported in the fire.

The report said water guns from fire engines could only go up 50 meters (about 165 feet), while the fire burned atop Tower A, which is 219-meters (718-foot) high. It took firefighters several hours to contain that blaze.