Photo: snapshot from press release issued by Xiangcheng district

A fire has killed six people and injured 28 in a town of Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province on Thursday. The fire broke out at around 6:07am and was put out an hour later.

The 28 injured, including two individuals who sustained serious wounds, have been transferred to hospital and remain in stable condition, according to a press release issued by Xiangcheng district, the location of the fire.

On-site rescue work has been concluded, with officials now investigating the cause of the fire, said the press release.

The fire broke out in the four-story Changhong Hotel, the second floor of which is used for group rental while the third and fourth floors are guest rooms, a witness working at a grocery store opposite the hotel told the Global Times on Thursday.

"I guess the hotel's business is doing well because there are many migrant workers and self-employed people working nearby and the room fee is not high, about 100 yuan per day," said the witness.

On-site video showed that the fire on the first floor was intense and some people trapped in the burning building climbed onto the advertising hoarding hanging between the first and the second floors and then went down to the ground through a ladder.

Beijing Youth Daily reported that it was the owner of a hardware store nearby who called fire brigade immediately at about 6am and then used his six-meter-long home-made steel ladder to help people escape.

Search results for the Changhong Hotel on Chinese online map software Gaode showed that the budget hotel, which opened in 2009 and was decorated in 2015, had since suspended operation due to the fire on Thursday.

A witness working at the grocery store said a snack bar, a garage and a supermarket that shared the same building with the hotel have also closed due to the fire.