The incident occurred on Wednesday around 6 pm at the 14-story building, located in a high-tech zone in the city of Zigong, Sichuan province, according to Chinese state media

Dramatic images and videos showed a huge column of black smoke billowing from the building. Several people were also seen gathered on a balcony

The rescue operation was completed on Thursday. Around 75 people who were trapped inside the building were evacuated, the local fire department said

A total of 16 people have been killed, and the rest were evacuated from the building, state-run Xinhua news agency reported

According to the preliminary investigations, the fire was caused by construction work, the report added