Front view of Capitol Hotel in Erbil, which was hit by a fire on Friday.

Most of the victims of a fire that struck a hotel in Iraq on Friday were Filipinos, the charge d’affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad said.

“We have just been informed that 14 Filipinos were among the 17 people who died in a fire that struck a hotel in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, this evening,” Elmer Cato posted on Facebook.

“We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and will do everything we can to bring them home as soon as possible,” he said.

Saman Barzanji, director general of the Erbil health department, was later quoted by Agence France Presse as saying the death toll had risen to 19, including 14 Filipinos, three Iraqis, a Palestinian and another person of unknown nationality.

Dozens more were injured and taken to hospital, said Fakher Harki, the department’s spokesman.

Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Erbil province, said preliminary information indicated that the cause of the fire was an electrical problem in a sauna.

The fire took place at the four-star Capitol Hotel where rooms cost from $100-$240 per night.

The hotel’s website says it has a 740-square-meter (2,580-square-foot) spa that includes saunas and a pool.

Photos and video posted on social media showed dark grey smoke pouring from windows on the top floor of the building.

The Kurdistan region in north Iraq has largely been spared the deadly violence that plagues other parts of the country.

The region is frequently visited by tourists from other areas of Iraq and various countries in the region.

A hotel fire in Sulaimaniyah, another city in Iraqi Kurdistan, killed 30 people in July 2010.

The city’s hospital said people from 12 different nations died in that fire, including some who jumped to their deaths from upper-floor windows while trying to escape the flames.

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