Bhubaneswar: Fire personnel evacuated around a dozen tourists from a luxury hotel in Puri after a fire broke out in the early hours of Tuesday.

The fire at the hotel, located on VIP Road, is believed to have been caused by a short circuit. Some tourists first saw smoke billowing out of the hotel's fourth floor and informed the front desk. Fire tenders rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control. A fire department personnel said the fire broke out in the kitchen and spread to five unoccupied rooms.

Hotel staff members, along with fire personnel, rescued a dozen tourists from the affected floor. "Properties worth lakhs were gutted in the fire, but luckily no one was injured. We immediately evacuated the tourists," said a hotel staff member. Fire department officials said the hotel had adequate safety measures, including fire extinguishers, but lacked trained staff members to operate those. "Prima facie it appears to be a case of short circuit. Two fire tenders were used to douse the flames," said a fire department official.

Tourists demanded the authorities conduct fire safety inspections at all city hotels.

"Thousands of tourists visit the town throughout the year. But most hotels operate without fire safety measures. The hotels must not jeopardize the lives of tourists," said Amrit Biswal, a visitor.

The Fire Services Directorate has recently launched an inspection of hotels and malls in the state. On Saturday, it inspected five hotels in Cuttcak and found that most flouted the fire safety norms.

According to the norms, hotels need to have several fire fighting measures, including wet risers, hose reels, automatic sprinkler systems and yard hydrants. Similarly, these establishments need to have terrace tanks, fire pumps, auto detection systems, illuminated exit signs, manually operated electrical fire alarm systems, hose boxes with delivery hoses and branches. Besides, these also need to have sufficient space for evacuation and operations of fire tenders.