Mountain hotel destroyed by fire in northern Finland

A hotel at the Iso-Syöte ski resort area in northern Finland suffered major damage in a fire early Friday morning.

The hotel was not fully occupied and some one hundred hotel guests and residents of neighbouring buildings were rescued without injuries.

Rescue fireman Hannu Timonen from the Oulu rescue service told newspaper Kaleva that slippery road conditions and reindeer blocking the driveways had delayed the arrival of the fire trucks.

The hotel has been built on a ridge overlooking a slope and fire trucks could enter on one side only. "It is in a challenging location," he said.

Fire had been observed by the workers preparing artificial snow for the slopes overnight and they started the evacuation before the fire spread. National broadcaster Yle reported that the hotel guests represented many nationalities.