A massive fire has engulfed Central Plaza in Itahari on Wednesday.

A total of eleven people—eight men and three women—trapped on different floors of the 10-storey building have been rescued, according to Koshi Province’s Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Rewati Raman Bhandari.

Three of them were airlifted by a Nepal Army helicopter from Kathmandu.

The fire started around 9:30am on the fifth and sixth floors. Fire engines from various local levels in Jhapa, Morang, and Sunsari, along with teams from the Nepal Army and police, are battling the blaze.

The building houses a hotel, cinema hall, banks, a supermarket, clothing stores, and electronics shops. The cause of the fire remains unknown, according to the Itahari Area Police Office.