Four bodies were found Friday night beneath the rubble of an Oregon motel that burned to the ground, police said.
Crews responded to the blaze at City Center Motel in Newport, more than 100 miles south of Portland, early Friday morning.
The person who reported the blaze said it was contained to one room in, but the motel was “fully engulfed in flames” when crews arrived, according to a statement from the Newport Police Department.
The 30-room motel was evacuated, and three guests were hospitalized, the statement said. Two of the injured guests were treated and released, but the third was taken to a burn center with burns and complications from smoke inhalation.
An initial sweep of the motel didn’t turn up any additional victims, but four bodies were discovered in the debris of the motel later Friday, Newport Police Chief Mark Miranda told NBC News on Saturday.
The victims were a male and a female from one room and a male and a female from a separate room, Miranda said. Their identities have not been released.
A Days Inn near City Center was also evacuated as the fire spread, but the flames never reached that motel, Miranda said. All guests from both motels have been accounted for.
A highway near the motel was also shut down for five hours, and police warned that Newport residents may notice discoloration in water because so much had been used to suppress the flames.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation Saturday.