Police have arrested two men in connection with a hotel fire that left seven people dead and 12 others injured in Luoyang, a well-known historic city in central China's Henan Province, on Friday.

A police spokesman said the men were Liu Yongjie, who was on duty Thursday night at privately owned Shensen Hotel, and Yan Sishen, the hotel manager.

Police say that Liu admitted under interrogation that he woke up around 2 a.m. on Friday, found his overcoat was on fire by a coal stove, so he simply stamped it out, threw it on to a sofa and continued to sleep.

But the overcoat smoldered and caught alight again, setting ablaze the sofa and the hotel lobby around 3:30 a.m.. Seeing the situation was out of control, Liu fled.

The blaze was extinguished at 4:20 a.m.

Police said that some people were killed or injured while jumping from the building. All the dead were waitresses at the hotel. The 12 injured have been hospitalized.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2004)