TAIPEI -- Nine people were killed and two others slightly injured in a blaze Wednesday night in a rental apartment in north Taiwan's New Taipei City, local police said.

The fire was said to start on the fourth floor of the building in the city's Zhonghe District at around 8:00 p.m. and quickly spread to rooms on the fifth floor before being put down an hour later, according to local fire department.

Most of the rooms were reportedly rented to foreign migrant workers. A 49-year-old man was arrested on allegation of setting the fire after quarreling with one resident in the apartment, according to the police.