Building fire in Beijing kills 17, injures 24

Building fire in Beijing kills 17, injures 24

2011-04-25 15:37:28 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) -- Seventeen people were killed on early Monday morning when a large fire broke out at a building housing a garment workshop in the Chinese capital, state-run media reported.

The fire broke out at around 1 a.m. local time in a four-story building in Daxing District, a suburb of Beijing. The first floor of the building was being used for an unlicensed garment workshop while the ones above were used to accommodate workers and their families.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that seventeen people, all migrant workers and their families, were killed in the blaze while 24 others were injured. Some of them were seriously injured.

Xinhua said most of the victims were found on the first floor of the building and died from inhaling excessive smoke. Iron fences that had been installed on all of the windows to stop burglars likely prevented people from escaping.

Chang Hongyan, deputy head of the government of Daxing District, told Xinhua that the construction of the building had not been approved by local authorities. An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

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