Beijing: A fire at a restaurant fire in northeastern China led to the death of 22 people on Tuesday, official Chinese news agency Xinhua has confirmed.
This is the latest in a series of such deadly incidents in the country.
Xinhua did not identify the cause of the fire but reported that President Xi Jinping called it “a deeply sobering lesson” and urged local officials to quickly treat the injured, determine what triggered the blaze and hold those responsible to account.
The fire broke out at 12:25 pm (9.55 pm IST) in a restaurant in a residential area of Liaoning Province’s Liaoyang City. Footage showed bright orange flames engulfing a storefront on street level alongside scores of parked vehicles. Smoke was seen billowing out as paramedics tended to people on stretchers. Apart from the dead, three injuries were reported.
Hao Peng, secretary of Liaoning’s provincial ruling party committee, has been quoted as saying that 22 fire trucks and 85 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze. Hao said the on-site rescue work has been completed and people evacuated.
Earlier this month, 20 people were killed in a fire that broke out in an apartment for the elderly at a nursing home in the northern province of Hebei.
Gas leaks caused at least two high-profile explosions in residential areas last year, with a blast at a restaurant in Hebei province killing two people and injuring 26 in March, and an explosion in a highrise building in southern Shenzhen province in September killing one person.
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