Blaze guts historic Yangon hotel
YANGON: A Japanese man was killed when a fire tore through a luxury teak wood hotel here yesterday, destroying an iconic resort popular with foreign visitors.
Hundreds of firefighters tried to quell the blaze, which broke out around 3am, but could not stop the flames from consuming the lakeside Kandawgyi Palace Hotel.
A white plastic sheet covered a body retrieved from the fire. The victim was later identified as a middle-aged Japanese man.
“(He) was a businessman in his 50s,” said Tomoko Yoshihiro from the Japanese embassy here.
Htay Lwin from Htoo Group, which owns the hotel, said authorities were probing what sparked the inferno.
“It’s hard to say why the fire broke out. The cause is under investigation,” he said, adding that about 140 guests were at the hotel when the flames erupted.
The colonial-era structure is owned by a Myanmar businessman notorious for making his fortune under the former junta.
Tay Za, a controversial tycoon who spun millions of dollars through his close military links, founded the Htoo Group, which spans construction, timber, resorts and an airline.
Locals lamented the loss of one of the city’s iconic buildings, perched on a hill by a large picturesque lake in the centre of the city.
“We’re sad that such a historic and beautiful place was completely destroyed,” said a witness, Kyi Kyi, standing near the smouldering ruins of the building.
The oldest parts of the Kandawgyi hotel date to the 1930s when British army officers used the site as a rowing club.
Guests at the hotel had been moved to other hotels here, Myanmar’s former capital.
The bustling city made its mark on Southeast Asia’s tourist trail since the country emerged from full junta rule in 2011. AFP