At least 13 people died today due to a fire in a hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, the emergency services of the former capital of the Central Asian country announced, adding that the flames have now been extinguished.

During the operation to extinguish the fire, “13 dead people were found, according to the first information; the process of identifying them is in progress,” the local authorities said in a press release they released.

According to news site Zakon.kz, citing the Almaty mayor’s office, three other people were taken to hospital.

The fire, for which the authorities were notified in the early hours of the morning, it took place in the basement of a three-story building, in the basement and on the ground floor of which a hotel operates, according to the same source.

It took firefighters almost an hour to put out the flameshe added, clarifying that the victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

According to the first information from the local authorities, 72 people were in the building and 59 were able to evacuate rushed out of it without help.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.