Shanghai Apartment Fire Kills at Least 53, Hospitalizes 70
Shanghai Apartment Fire Death Toll Rises to 49, CCTV Reports
AFP/Getty Images
An apartment-building fire in central Shanghai killed at least 49 people, state broadcaster China Central Television reported today, without saying where it got the information.
An apartment-building fire in central Shanghai killed at least 49 people, state broadcaster China Central Television reported today, without saying where it got the information. Source: AFP/Getty Images
A high-rise apartment building fire in central Shanghai yesterday killed at least 53 people and hospitalized 70, 17 of whom were in critical condition, the Shanghai government said in a statement.
The blaze was caused by unlicensed electric welders and four people have been detained in connection with the incident, Xinhua News Agency said, citing an initial investigation. Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu today called for a full inquiry, adding that those responsible will be punished, according to a government statement. No one at the Shanghai police headquarters answered phone calls.
Scaffolding for renovation work on the 28-story building in the Jing’an district ignited about 2:15 p.m. yesterday and the fire was brought under control four hours later, the local government said. The blaze damaged the whole block. At least 30 policemen and paramilitary officers blocked off the streets surrounded by about 400 bystanders.
“I heard noises that sounded like firecrackers; I thought someone was getting married,” said a local woman who gave only her surname, Liu. “I saw a girl who was trying to climb down the building and construction workers wave their hands for help. It was so frightening. I’ve never seen such a big fire like this before.”
Gold Watch
A woman who declined to give her name said her sister’s family lived on the seventh floor and only had time to take with them a few belongings including a gold watch. Most residents were relocated to hotels nearby, she said.
The building, built in the 1990s, housed more than 280 residents, mainly elderly, the official newspaper People’s Daily reported yesterday. Most of the injured were elderly and children at home during working hours, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.
Yesterday’s blaze was one of the most serious in the city’s recent history. In 1996, a fire at another Shanghai apartment killed 36 people, injuring 19, the Shanghai Morning Post reported today.
Last year, a fire in China Central Television’s new headquarters complex ravaged more than 100,000 square meters (1.1 million square feet) of the site in Beijing, and killed a fireman. That blaze, ignited by unapproved fireworks to mark the end of Lunar New Year celebrations, destroyed a hotel being constructed that was to be managed by Mandarin Oriental International Ltd.
To contact the reporter on this story: Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at wzhu4@bloomberg.net; Bonnie Cao in Shanghai at bcao4@bloomberg.net,
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Wong at swong139@bloomberg.net;
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