Fire in residential building in Zhengzhou claims 13 lives
Print Edition
THIRTEEN people died and four others were injured when a building caught fire in Zhengzhou, capital of central China’s Henan Province, early yesterday.
Most of the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. The injured are being treated for severe burns at the Zhengzhou No.1 People’s Hospital, China Central TV reported.
The fire broke out at around 3am in an electricity meter box on the ground floor of the seven-storey apartment building in downtown Zhengzhou, local media reported. It was put out several hours later.
The walls and the bikes were completely blackened after the inferno, reports said.
A survivor said the corridor smelt of burned materials and other junk items.
Xinhua News Agency said the building had about 30 to 40 households.
An investigator at the scene said most of the victims lived on the seventh floor, most of which was rented by a local hotel for its staff, the website hnr.cn reported.
A resident, who lived on the fourth floor, told the website he did not even dare to venture out after noticing the fire.
“When I opened the door, I found the smoke had engulfed much of the corridor. I just shut the door and stayed inside.”
He only ventured out after the fire was put out. He said there were marks on the wall in the corridor that looked like those of the victims who tried to escape the fire.
Another person who gave his name as Chen Chen said the building housed relocated villagers whose old homes were pulled down to make way for a shopping mall. Many flats had been rented out as well, thepaper.cn reported.
Chen claimed there were no property management officials, and the electricity boxes were randomly installed. “The wires were left hanging ... It looked like one big net,” Chen said.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.
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