/ 27 July 2001

BLAZE GUTS PLUSH HOTEL IN ZIMBABWE

A FIRE on Tuesday destroyed a wing at the five-star Elephant Hills Inter-Continental Hotel in Zimbabwe’s northwestern resort town of Victoria Falls, police and tourism officials said. The fire damaged part of the hotel casino and destroyed the left wing of the 276-room hotel. No casualties have been reported. State television reported that the fire broke out at 11:40 a.m. (0940 GMT) in the hotel’s laundry facility, where repair work was underway. Welding equipment used in the repairs sparked the blaze, which quickly spread to other parts of the hotel, the report said. – AFP