Fire in Batumi’s hotel claims lives of 11 people. At least 11 people died and a dozen were injured on Friday as a fire ripped through an upmarket hotel in Georgia’s Black Sea resort city of Batumi.

The hotel was due to host the Miss Georgia beauty pageant on Sunday. Officials said none of the 20 contestants, who were reportedly staying in the hotel, were injured.

“Eleven people died of carbon monoxide intoxication” at the 22-storey Leogrand hotel, the regional health minister Zaal Mikeladze told journalists.

“Ten people were hospitalised, mostly with smoke inhalation injuries. They all are in a stable condition,” he added.

Three Turks and an Israeli were being treated at the Batumi University clinic, spokesman Kakha Chikhradze stated.

“Sixteen fire engines and 100 firefighters were sent. The fire has now been extinguished,” the regional interior ministry said in a statement.

As BBC reports, the cause of the blaze, which took hours to extinguish, is not clear.

“The country's Prime Minister Georgi Kvirikashvili diverted to Batumi on the way back from an EU summit instead of travelling to the country's capital Tbilisi after he learned of the fire, according to a post on his official Facebook page” – the article reads. 

In a later post he offered his condolences to the families and promised an investigation to find the fire's causes.

www.georgianjournal.ge