Tragic fire in E.China’s Jiangxi kills 39
▶ All local off-campus training suspended after students fail to escape during class
After a tragic fire accident in a building basement in Xinyu city of East China’s Jiangxi Province killed 39 people, local authorities mandated that all off-campus training institutions suspend their training activities after an investigation found that some vocational college students attending an educational consulting training session were unfortunately among the casualties.
The fire broke out in the building basement of a shopping area on Wednesday afternoon was followed by a preliminary investigation which revealed that the fire was caused by violation of regulations in construction work. Twelve individuals responsible for the incident were detained by local authorities for undertaking investigations of the public security organ.
By 6:20 pm on Wednesday, a total of 48 individuals were rescued, of which 39 were pronounced dead and nine were sent for medical treatment. The blaze was extinguished by 6:50 pm on Wednesday, Gong Junhui, chief of the fire brigade, told a press conference on Thursday morning.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the fire started in the basement of the building, which was undergoing renovation work to install a cold storage facility. The fire was caused by construction workers carrying out unauthorized hot work.
Thick smoke spread through the stairwell to the second floor, the home of a training center called Boyi Education Consultancy and a hotel. The individuals trapped were mainly students attending educational consultancy training sessions and guests staying at the hotel.
The fire made headlines less than a week when a fire at a local school dormitory in city of Nanyang, Central China’s Henan Province, claimed 13 lives and injured one.
The majority of those trapped in the fire were students attending a “college-to-university” training program and guests staying at the hotel, according to the Xinhua News Agency. During the fire, the students were in the largest classroom of the Boyi training center, which had two exits to the outside. One was concealed behind the classroom, behind a curtain, with a small window that “was never opened,” according to the media report. The other exit was a narrow door next to the podium, allowing only one person to pass at a time.
Local authorities pledged full cooperation with the State Council’s investigation team in conducting the accident inquiry. Those found negligent or responsible will be held strictly accountable according to the law and regulations, according to the press conference.