11 killed in luxury hotel fire in Black Sea resort

Eleven people have been killed and 21 others hurt in a fire at a luxury hotel in the Georgian Black Sea resort city of Batumi, officials said.

The fire erupted late yesterday evening at the Leogrand Hotel, where participants in the Miss Georgia 2017 beauty pageant were having dinner, Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Georgian Interior Ministry as saying.

All 20 participants escaped unhurt using a fire escape ladder, it said. At least 100 other guests and employees also escaped.

The ministry reported that among the 21 injured there was one Israeli and 12 Turkish nationals.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

- AP