39 killed, 9 injured in fire in China's Jiangxi province

Pic/AFP

As many as 39 people have been killed and nine injured in China's southeastern province of Jiangxi, as per government officials, Al Jazeera reported. The blaze broke out on Wednesday in the basement of a shopping area in the city of Xinyu. State broadcaster CCTV said the rescue operation has concluded and no more people are trapped in the building.

CCTV video showed several fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles arriving on the scene as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. More than 100 firefighters, police, and local government officials were deployed at the scene of the incident. Following the blaze, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a statement, noting that it was yet another safety tragedy.

He called on the government and Communist Party to "resolutely curb the frequent occurrence of various safety accidents and ensure the safety of people's lives and property and overall social stability." The statement included orders for the State Council's Work Safety Committee to close any gaps in safety measures. The local government said that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

It is the second fatal incident of fire in the country in less than a week, with at least 13 people killed last Saturday when a fire broke out in a school dormitory in the central Henan province, as per Al Jazeera. In that blaze, the victims were third-grade elementary school students, many from rural areas. The school's head was taken into custody while authorities were investigating the cause of the fire. Social media users in China expressed outrage over the incident, calling for those responsible to be punished, as per Al Jazeera.

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