Firefighters try to douse a fire that broke out in a building lodging foreign workers in Male, Maldives, on Thursday. AFP

The capital of the archipelago, best known as an upmarket holiday destination, is one of the world's most densely populated cities.

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Officials said 10 bodies were recovered from the upper floor of a building destroyed in the fire, which originated from a ground-floor vehicle repair garage.

People evacuated from the gutted building in the Maldives capital Male on Thursday. AFP

"We have found 10 bodies," a fire service official said, adding that it took them about four hours to put out the fire.

A security official said the dead included nine Indians and a Bangladesh national.

Maldivian political parties have criticised conditions for foreign workers.

They are thought to make up about half of Male's 250,000-strong population and are mostly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.