Fire in Chile Hotel Kills 10 Tourists

SANTIAGO, Chile -- A fire swept through a small hotel in Chile, killing 10 foreign tourists, including two children, as they slept in their rooms, a fire official said.

Fire Department Commander Rene Mansilla said the rooms in the Blue House hotel in Chile's southernmost city of Punta Arenas did not have fire detectors and most of the victims suffocated.

"We believe (the fire) started at or near the dining room and was possibly caused by an electric failure," Mansilla told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that the investigation was ongoing.

Mansilla said 11 guests escaped the fire, six with minor injuries. Four Argentines _ two of them children _ four Germans and two Dutch were apparently killed while they slept. Nine were found in their rooms and one body was found in a bathroom, he said.

Local media reported that the Argentines were members of a single family and the mother was pregnant, but Mansilla said he could not confirm that.

He said the identities of the victims were not immediately available because the fire destroyed most of their documents and badly damaged the hotel registration book.

"Police are working on (their identities), but clarifying the situation may still take a couple of days," Mansilla said, adding that their nationalities were established by a hotel employee who recalled assigning the rooms.

Punta Arenas, located about 2,000 south of the capital of Santiago on the Strait of Magellan, is a popular jumping off point for Patagonia-region attractions, most notably the world-renowned Torres del Paine National Park.

In a separate emergency Saturday in central Chile, a large gas explosion rocked a historic area in the port city of Valparaiso, killing at least one person, injuring 11 more and causing extensive damage over three city blocks.

The search for victims was hampered by flare-ups in some spots. More than 40 people left homeless were sheltered at a local school.

President Michelle Bachelet suspended her vacation in southern Chile to visit Valparaiso, 77 miles northwest of the capital of Santiago on the Pacific Coast, and promised the government would help the victims.