A major fire broke out in a 12-floor building and engulfed an adjacent hotel at downtown of Urumqi in northwest China, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties.

The blaze first broke out at Dehui International Plaza late last night, but after battling for 15 hours fire brigade gave up their effort to put out the fire this morning as the building might collapse, state media reported.

Lower floors of the building, where vendors' stalls were located were totally burnt while the blaze continued to rage in the upper portion, official Xinhua news agency said.

The Plaza housed the booths of more than 2,000 sellers of clothes, cosmetics, toys and various kinds of commodities from the basement up to its fourth floor. The fifth to 12th floors were used as offices, it said.

It was not known if anyone was injured or had died in the fire, Xinhua said.

Fire fighters had now turned their attention to put out the blaze in the adjacent 20-storeyed hotel, where the occupants had been safely evacuated, the report said.

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