In a heart-wrenching fire incident in China, 38 people were killed. The two-storey facility was operated by a wholesaler of industrial equipment, apparel and chemical products. There are reports claiming that clothing manufacturing also used to take place here.
Media report claims that footage released by state media shows a blaze breaking out in a two-storey facility in Anyang, China, in what could be called as one of the country’s deadliest fire accidents in recent years.
Local authorities blamed the company, which mainly manufactures clothes, for carrying out operations against rules and regulations.
The municipal emergency management department said that preliminary investigation revealed that sparks during welding operations caused the fire, igniting cotton fabric in the factory.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all-out efforts to treat the two injured in the blaze in Central China and vowed to bring those responsible for the incident to justice, official media reported.
The state-run CGTN reported that local fire teams sent 63 vehicles and 240 firefighters for the rescue operation. Officials say an investigation is underway into what caused the tragedy.
Local officials said that the fire started around 4 pm at Kaixinda Trading, a wholesaler that deals in a variety of goods, in Anyang, a city in Henan Province known as a high-tech development zone that was once an ancient Chinese capital. Teams of rescue workers extinguished the fire by around 11 pm.
A video shared by state media showed a bright-orange fire raging at the end of a street, as firefighters fastened a hose onto a fire truck and a column of smoke billowed.
The fire had been fuelled by the burning of ‘plastics, clothes, furnitures and medications, among others’.
Anyang Mayor Gao Yong said the city would thoroughly inspect all possible safety risks as it is home to more than 5 million people in the central province of Henan.
He said, “This accident has taken such a huge toll on human life, the lessons must be understood at a very deep level.”
In China, the Central Government has pledged stronger safety measures ever since an explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people.
In that case, a number of local officials were accused of taking bribes to ignore safety violations.
