Fourteen people have been killed and dozens more injured after a fire swept through a 40-storey apartment tower in Taiyuan, the capital of China's northern Shanxi province, state media reported on Monday, in the latest deadly blaze to strike a Chinese high-rise.
The fire broke out at about 4:59pm local time on Sunday in the Haosheng International Apartment, a mixed-use residential and commercial tower in the Liuxiang subdistrict of the downtown Yingze district. Firefighters brought the flames under control within about two hours, and search and rescue work was completed by 8:30pm, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Five people had been confirmed dead by late on Sunday night. By Monday morning, the death toll had risen to 14, Xinhua reported, after more victims were found among the 38 people taken to hospital for treatment.
By Monday afternoon, 25 people remained in hospital, including nine in a serious condition, according to a news conference held by the Taiyuan municipal government. China Daily reported that a further four people had serious injuries and 12 had minor injuries, with medical teams working to treat the most critical patients.
The building, constructed in 2007, sits in one of Taiyuan's busiest commercial quarters and houses apartments, a hotel and children's education centres, according to regional reporting. It was not immediately clear on which floors the fire started or how it spread through the tower.
Local authorities said on Monday that management personnel from the building's owner and property management company had been placed under control while the investigation continues. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, and officials said the findings would be released to the public once the inquiry is complete.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep sorrow over the fire on Monday and extended condolences to Chinese President Xi Jinping, describing the loss of life as a tragedy.
The Taiyuan fire is the latest in a grim run of deadly blazes in China, and the second major high-rise fire reported in the city this year. Another blaze in Taiyuan's Xiaodian district in March killed three people and injured 23 others, according to local reports.
China has repeatedly tightened fire-safety rules for high-rise residential buildings after a series of fatal fires, including requirements for evacuation routes, fire doors and the control of flammable cladding and electrical faults. Yet deadly fires in apartment towers continue to occur, often in older buildings where safety systems have aged or where mixed commercial and residential use complicates evacuation.
For the families of the dead and injured, the immediate questions are about the condition of those still in hospital and about how the fire was able to take hold in a modern tower in the heart of the city. The investigation into the cause, and into whether the building's fire-safety systems worked as they should have, is likely to shape the official response in the days ahead.
Authorities in Taiyuan said follow-up work for the victims and their families was under way, and that all-out efforts were being made to treat the injured. The municipal government is expected to give a further update once the investigation into the cause of the fire has advanced.
