Taipei - Three Malaysian female backpackers and four Taiwanese were killed in a fire Monday at a Taipei hotel, police said.

The fire raged through the 36-year-old White Snow Hotel early in the morning.

A police officer identified the three Malaysian victims as 26-year-old Chin Seok Liang from Cheras, 37-year-old Lee Loo Yee from Puchong in Selangor, and Low Mee Sim from Penang. He said the three entered Taiwan on February 23 and booked for their return flight on Thursday.

Three Taiwanese senior citizens also were among the dead.

Police initially suspected arson as the cause of the fire, which also left a man seriously injured when he jumped from the fourth floor of the five-storey hotel building and landed on a car.

Twelve other hotel guests managed to escape by themselves or were saved by firemen who rushed to the scene five minutes after they received report about the fire, police said. (dpa)