The fire broke out in a 14-storey building in a high-tech zone of the city of Zigong, shrouding the vicinity with thick smoke. - Photo: Reuters
BEIJING: 16 people were killed in a fire at a department store in Sichuan province in China's southwest on Wednesday (July 17) evening, state media said on Thursday (July 18).
The fire broke out in a 14-storey building in a high-tech zone of the city of Zigong, shrouding the vicinity with thick smoke, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Rescue operations concluded at around 3am on July 18, according to the local fire and rescue services cited by state news agency Xinhua.
Video broadcast by state media CCTV and shared on social media July 17 night showed thick black smoke billowing out of the 14-storey tower in Zigong, Sichuan province.
The blaze started in the early evening in a shopping centre at the foot of the building, the channel said.
Around 30 people were rescued from the complex, with the fire extinguished by rescuers around 8.20pm on July 17, CCTV said.
Later footage provided by a drone operator to AFP showed firetrucks and other first responders blocking off the road late at night, continuing to spray down the charred building.
As of 3am July 18, the death toll stood at 16 with no individuals left trapped inside, according to Xinhua.
Zigong’s emergency services department received news about the fire at around 6.10pm and immediately dispatched firefighters to extinguish the blaze, the broadcaster said.
Other images shared on social media – which AFP could not immediately verify – show people gathered in front of the burning building.
The emergency department has called on the public to “not to believe or amplify rumours” about the fire.
Zigong, around 1,900 kilometres from the capital Beijing, is home to nearly 2.5 million people.
Fires are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.
In January, dozens died after a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu, with Xinhua reporting the blaze had been caused by the “illegal” use of fire by workers in the store’s basement.
The same month, a fire in a residential building killed at least 15 people.
That fire came just days after a late-evening blaze at a school in central China’s Henan province killed 13 children as they slept in a dormitory.
In June last year, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the northwest of the country left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.
And in April 2023, a fire in a Beijing hospital claimed 29 lives and forced desperate patients to jump from windows to escape. - Reuters, AFP
