A fire has destroyed the parliament of Marshall Islands despite attempts by firefighters to save the building.
Fire crews arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning and began an hours-long effort to stop the blaze after receiving a distress call at midnight.
However, witnesses in the Pacific Island nation’s capital, Majuro, said the building burnt down and reported seeing its remains smouldering this morning.
Emergency services tried to save the building after arriving at 1am. (Supplied: Chewy Lin)
A Marshall Islands government spokesperson said there were early signs the fire originated from a container trailer adjacent to the building.
“At the time of this report, responders are actively preventing further damage on the capitol grounds,” the spokesperson said in a written statement.
The fire struck during a parliamentary sitting period, and as government officials met regularly to finalise the next budget.
The fire struck during a parliamentary sitting period for the Pacific Island nation. (Supplied: Chewy Lin)
Former Marshall Islands health secretary Jack Niedenthal told the ABC the fire had left people in shock.
“It’s all taken us by complete surprise this morning,” he said.
“It’s devastating, absolutely devastating for the government here.”
Witnesses say the building has been “gutted” by the blaze. (Supplied: Chewy Lin)
Mr Niedenthal said he saw the remains of the building smouldering this morning.
“The smoke is still there. Lots of people are trying to move things around in there.
“It’s totalled … it still has a roof on it, but it’s been gutted.”
The government spokesperson said the Marshall Islands Police Department’s fire truck was unable to respond due to “a critical equipment part being unavailable for maintenance”.
Mr Niedenthal said local firefighters were under-resourced and not equipped to deal with large fires.
“We have [a] couple of fire engines here and that’s it … we’re stretched thin in that department.”