17 die after snack bar goes up in flames
Print Edition
SEVENTEEN people, including 14 students aged between 15 and 20, died in a snack bar fire in east China’s Anhui Province on Saturday, local officials said yesterday.
The other victims included a father and his son. Many of the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, the officials said.
A gas cylinder at the premises on the first floor of a six-story building in Wuhu’s Jinghu District caught fire just before noon on Saturday and there was an explosion a few minutes later, according to an initial investigation.
Firefighters put out the blaze in around 30 minutes.
The owner, Zhang Baoping, a 38-year-old man from Anhui’s Hanshan County, has been put under police investigation.
The snack bar opened on August 18 without an official license, according to investigators.
Zhang told them that he and his wife had rented the premises more than two months ago to sell snacks.
When the fire broke out he had tried to put it out with water and a fire extinguisher, but both he and his wife were injured in the subsequent explosion. One witness said that he heard at least two blasts.
More than 30 firefighters took part in rescue operations and an investigation into the tragedy is continuing.
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