At least 17 people killed as raging fire sweeps through Chinese shopping mall
PUBLISHED : Friday, 06 February, 2015, 10:55am
UPDATED : Friday, 06 February, 2015, 11:16am
Laura Zhou [email protected]
At least 10 people were trapped in a top-floor toilet after fire broke out at the shopping mall in Huizhou, Guangdong province yesterday. Photo: Nandu.com
At least 17 people were killed yesterday after a raging fire swept through a four-storey shopping mall in Guangdong province, state media says.
A total of 120 firefighters from Huizhou, and 150 others in 45 fire engines from the neighbouring cities of Shenzhen, Dongguan, Shanwei fought the blaze, which started on the top floor of Yiwu Commodity Mall in Huizhou, in Huidong county, at about 1:30pm yesterday.
Smoke and flames billow out from the top floor of the shopping mall during last night's blaze. Photo: Nandu.com
More than 300 people were evacuated from the building by 3pm, but Southern Metropolis News reported that at least 10 people had remained trapped inside the top-floor toilet of a cinema until last night.
The newspaper reported that about 20 people had been trapped in the cinema during the blaze.
It also quoted unconfirmed police sources that said about 24 children had been inside toilets on the second floor waiting to be rescued during the fire.
More than 300 people were evacuated from the shopping mall, along with people working in nearby buildings in Huizhou, Guangdong province. Photo: Nandu.com
Firemen trying to reach trapped people were forced back because of the intense heat of the fire, a spokesman for the provincial fire brigade told the newspaper.
Four firefighters were injured and taken to hospital, with one suffering serious injuries.
No precise death toll has been issued by Huizhou officials.
The building, with a warehouse also situated on the top floor, was now in danger of collapse, Huizhou officials were quoted as saying last night by chinanews.com
People in nearby properties were also ordered to evacuate their buildings because of safety concerns, news portal chinanews.com reported.
The mall passed a fire safety review only 20 days ago, the county’s deputy magistrate reported
Police said they had detained two executives working at the mall.
