The fire broke out at around 4:30 a.m. in the basement of the A25 Hotel on Luong Ngoc Quyen Street in Hoan Kiem District, and thick black smoke began to billow.

Some foreign tourists on the second floor decided to jump down to escape while others were trapped in the upper floors. An unnamed eyewitness said many guests climbed to the rooftop and screamed for help.

"It was not a big fire but there was a lot of smoke and many tourists did not know where to run," an eyewitness said.

Smoke goes up from the six-story A25 Hotel in Hanoi's Old Quarter.
Photo by VnExpress.

Eight fire trucks and dozens of firefighters arrived at the scene and put out the blaze by around 6 a.m.

Twenty five guests, mainly foreigners, were rescued and no injuries have been reported.

Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the fire or estimate the damage.

Vietnam had more than 4,075 fires last year in which 122 people were killed and property worth around VND1.7 trillion ($73.2 million) was destroyed, according to official figures.