Scores of people were rescued from a blazing building in Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon early Thursday, many brought to safety with a crane from the highest floors.

Fire broke out at Thanzay market in Latha Township, No. 2 Ward Yangon Region at about 6:00 a.m. and it lasted until 9:30 a.m. Myanmar Fire Service Department designated this fire as level 5 and the fire lasted for about four hours.

Around 60 fire trucks raced to the 12-storey apartment block as smoke and flames spread through the building.

Myanmar Fire Service Department issued a press release which says that the special force of firefighters extinguished the fire and at the same time they could successfully evacuate 85 persons trapped in the upper floors.

The people rescued included children and a 92-year-old man suffering from smoke inhalation. The injured were treated at the Yangon General Hospital. There were no reported deaths.

Yangon Region Red Cross Chief Aung Min Min Ko said, “The smoke was billowing from the first and second floors of market building when we arrived there. There were only a few people when we arrived. Only firefighters were deployed there for extinguishing fire. We pulled out and evacuated injured firefighters and people. And then we sent them to Yangon General Hospital. Two of them are old people. They got shock because of smoke. We could send them to hospital on time.”

During the evacuation, some firefighters were injured by broken glass.

Arman Youth Charity Group patron Kyaw Soe Naing said that these flats were surrounded by series of wire meshes and the fire was burning the textile rolls stored there so that the firefighters had difficulty in extinguishing the fire by entering the flats and market building.

“We saw most of these floors are used as warehouses. The shops are in lower floors. Some rooms in upper floors are rented out and some are bought. They use these flats and rooms as their warehouses. They kept their merchandises there. They come and take them from these storerooms when their customers come,” he added.

The cause of the fire has yet to be established but may have been due to a short circuit.

In the fire broke out in a flat in Mingalar Taungnyunt Township on January 19, two women and one 8-year old child were killed.

Many of the buildings in Yangon have poor safety standards and fires are common.

Additional reporting by AFP