MANILA - A fire broke out at a hotel in the Philippine capital on Sunday, killing four people and trapping several on the fifth floor, a rescue official said.

About 20 people were trapped in the Manila Pavilion Hotel, Johnny Yu, chief of the ManilaDisaster Risk Reduction Management Office, told radio station dZMM.

"We have reports coming in from the Bureau of Fire Protection that they saw from the fifth floor 19 to 20 trapped victims but they are alive," Yu said.

It was not immediately clear how the fire started. The hotel is owned by Waterfront Philippines Inc.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales, Peter Blaza and Romeo Ranoco; Writing by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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