Fourteen people have died in a fire at the Haosheng International Apartment complex in Taiyuan, the capital of China’s Shanxi Province. The fire broke out in Yingze District at 4:59 p.m. local time on November 8, Xinhua reported.
It was initially reported that 38 people had been taken to hospital, five of whom had died. The death toll was later updated to 14. No details have been released about the identities of those killed or the condition of the other injured people.
The fire started at the complex on Liuxiang Nanlu Street. According to the published information, the building is multi-storey and has a mixed-use designation. It houses a hotel, commercial premises and training centres.
The open flames were extinguished at around 7:00 p.m. local time, while rescue and search operations were completed at around 8:30 p.m. The authorities have begun work to establish the cause of the incident.
“The cause of the fire is under investigation,” local authorities said.The first information about the incident was disseminated by Xinhua, while the subsequent increase in the death toll was reported by Chinese media, citing information from provincial authorities.
Sources: yzwb.net, english.news.cn, chinanews.com