Hotel fire kills 19, mostly foreigners, in KRG capital Irbil in northern Iraq

A fire at a hotel in the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) killed 19 people and injured dozens more on Friday, officials said.

Fourteen of the dead were from the Philippines, while three Iraqis and a Palestinian also died in the blaze, said Saman Barzanji, director general of the Irbil health department.

Dozens more people were injured and taken to hospital in Irbil, said Fakher Harki, the department's spokesman.

Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Arbil province, said preliminary information indicated that the cause of the fire was an electrical problem in a sauna.

The fire took place at the four-star Capitol Hotel where rooms cost from $100-$240 per night.

The hotel's website says it has a 740-square-meter (2,580-square-foot) spa that includes saunas and a pool.

Photos and video posted on social media showed dark grey smoke pouring from windows on the top floor of the building.

The KRG in northern Iraq has largely been spared the deadly violence that plagues other parts of the country.

The region is frequently visited by tourists from other areas of Iraq and various countries in the region.

A hotel fire in Sulaymaniyah, another city in KRG, killed 30 people in July 2010.

The city's hospital said people from 12 different nations died in that fire, including some who jumped to their deaths from upper-floor windows while trying to escape the flames.