Five people were killed, including a Russian, in a hotel fire in Jilin Province on Saturday night, an official confirmed yesterday. Two others were injured.

The seven-story building was destroyed as were four cars nearby.

The blaze started at about 7:40?PM at Xinqiao Hotel in Yanji, a city in the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian. Three employees of a Chinese power company and a man who worked in Beijing were also killed, said Sui Qingjiang, a prefecture official.

All five victims were men, said the official. Their bodies were found after the fire was extinguished at midnight. Investigators said one victim was Caucasian.

The hotel authorities later confirmed he was a Russian visiting Yanji for medical treatment. He gave a Chinese name when he checked in.

More than 40 guests were registered at the hotel, most of whom were evacuated safely. A few escaped by jumping out a window. One man badly injured his wrist after jumping from a sixth floor window.

The cause of the fire was still being investigated. Some witnesses said a neon billboard at the hotel's entrance might be the cause.

(Shanghai Daily March 20, 2006)