Fifty-four people were injured in a fire that ripped through a hotel in South Korea on Sunday evening.

Dozens of guests suffered burns and smoke inhalation as they scrambled to escape the blaze engulfing the hotel in Incheon City on the outskirts of the capital Seoul on December 17.

Officers from the Incheon Gongdan Fire Station said the fire started in a carpark of the 18-storey building at around 9 pm local time.

Several guests fled by leaping to the rooftop of a neighbouring building. Some of them suffered fractures, smoke inhalation, and back and ankle pains. A woman was reported to have sustained two-degree burns on her body.

Authorities said none of the injuries were life-threatening.

The cause of the fire was being investigated.