A fire ripped through a building in the Philippine capital's Chinatown early Friday, killing 11 people, authorities said.

Crews from 14 fire trucks took two hours to control the morning blaze in Manila's Binondo district, the city's fire bureau said in an initial report.

Rescue personnel later found the bodies of 11 people inside the five-storey mixed-use building, it added.

The cause of the blaze and identities of the victims were not immediately known.

By noon, mortuary vehicles were waiting on the street to take the bodies away, an AFP journalist on the scene saw.

The building hosted shops on the ground level and residential units on upper floors.