January 26, 2008	Saturday	Muharram 16, 1429

LAS VEGAS: A fire broke out on the top floors of a 3,000-room Las Vegas hotel and Casino on Friday, forcing the evacuation of guests and staff and quickly engulfing parts of the building’s facade and roof.

There were no immediate reports of injuries in the blaze, which broke out at about 11 a.m. local time (2 p.m. EST) at the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino on the Vegas strip.

The New York, New York hotel and casino, which adjoins the Monte Carlo, was also evacuated and the strip was shut down in both directions, jamming traffic for miles onto Interstate.Television images showed flames sweeping across the 35-story hotel’s white and black facade, pumping black smoke into the sky as fire crews scaled ladders to reach the blaze.

A spokeswoman for MGM Mirage, which owns the Monte Carlo, said company officials were awaiting information about the blaze from the Clark County Fire Department.

A deadly fire in November 1980 at one of MGM’s more famous properties, the MGM Grand Hotel, claimed more than 80 lives and injured nearly 700 people.—Reuters