One person died when a fire tore through a luxury teak wood hotel in Myanmar's main city Yangon on Thursday, destroying the iconic resort which is popular with foreign visitors.
Hundreds of firefighters tried to quell the blaze, which broke out at around 3am local time (2030 GMT), but were unable to stop the flames from consuming the lakeside Kandawgyi Palace Hotel.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw a white plastic sheet covering a body retrieved from the fire, but there was no immediate confirmation of further casualties.
"We are trying to identify the body," Htay Lwin, from the Htoo Group, which owns the hotel, said.
"It's hard to say why the fire broke out, the cause is under investigation," he said, adding around 140 guests were at the hotel when the inferno started.
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 Yangon's iconic buildings, which was 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," a witness Kyi Kyi told AFP, standing near the still smouldering ruins of the building.
Guests at the hotel had been moved to other hotels in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city which has made its mark on Southeast Asia's tourist trail since the country emerged from full junta rule.
The oldest parts of the Kandawgyi hotel date to the 1930s when British army officers used the site as rowing club.
Myanmar's reputation as one of the region's hottest new destinations has also been battered by global censure over an army crackdown on its Rohingya population. – AFP