28 people died in a fire at a shoe factory in eastern China, Xinhua reports, writes UNN.
Details
According to the publication, 28 people died in a fire that occurred on Thursday at a shoe factory in the village of Jiangtou, Chendai township, administratively subordinate to the city of Jinjiang in Fujian Province.
As Reuters notes, flames engulfed a multi-story building, leaving workers trapped on the roof.
The fire broke out around noon local time (07:00 Kyiv time) at the Huiteng shoe factory.
According to published data, at the time of the fire, there were 239 people at the factory, 213 people were evacuated, two of whom died after being taken to a hospital for treatment. Another 26 people, previously reported missing at the scene, were confirmed dead.
Videos published by state media in the afternoon showed flames engulfing the building and thick black smoke rising into the sky. On the roof of the building, shrouded in clouds of smoke, about a dozen people could be seen, apparently trapped by the fire.
China's leader Xi Jinping issued instructions calling for large-scale rescue efforts. He stated that the fire "caused significant casualties" and that it occurred after a series of fatal accidents at the country's industrial facilities in recent months. Xi called on authorities to strictly hold those responsible accountable.
Firefighting and rescue operations were still ongoing, although open flames were mostly extinguished by around 16:00 (11:00 Kyiv time), a local fire department official told state broadcaster CCTV. Thick smoke was still rising from the scene, and several fire trucks continued to spray water into the early evening of Thursday, Xinhua reports.
Jinjiang, in the coastal province of Fujian, is a major center for shoe and clothing production and is often called China's "shoe capital."
Preliminary findings suggest the fire started on the first floor of the factory, a local official told CCTV. Shoe-making materials stored in the building were flammable and may have caused the rapid spread of the fire, the official said.
Due to the materials and adhesives present, the smell at the scene was pungent, causing eye irritation, CCTV reports. A large number of items were also piled up on stairwells, hindering rescue and firefighting efforts, the state broadcaster quoted firefighters as saying.
The company's executives and "other relevant personnel" have been taken into custody, and the company's bank accounts have been frozen, Xinhua reports.
According to official data, thousands of companies in Jinjiang's shoe sector produced over 1.2 billion pairs of shoes in 2024, accounting for 20% of global production.
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