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CatastropheChina

China: Several dead in Xinjiang apartment fire

November 25, 2022

A blaze in a high-rise building has killed 10 people in the Xinjiang region of China. Nine others have been injured but are said to be stable.

https://p.dw.com/p/4K2J0
A screen shot of firefighters at night spraying water
Protesters have blamed COVID curbs for impeding escape from the building Image: UGC/AP/dpa/picture alliance

An apartment fire in China's northwestern Xinjiang region has left 10 people dead and nine injured.

The fire broke out on Thursday night in the regional capital of Urumqi.

It started on the 15th floor of the high-rise building before spreading to higher floors and took about three hours to extinguish.

Local government said that the cause of the fire was being probed.

Meanwhile, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday that it was caused by an electric socket extension.

The injured were all expected to survive, authorities said.

China: Second deadly fire in days

This is the second deadly fire that China has seen in the last few days.

Earlier this week, 38 people were killed in a fire at an industrial trading company in the central city of  Anyang.

Aging infrastructure, poor safety awareness and government corruption, in some instances, have been blamed for a string of recent fires, explosions and building collapses around China, as it continues to deal with new COVID-19 outbreaks and the resulting strict controls.

dvv/jsi (AP, Reuters)