China school fire leaves 13 students dead

At least 13 students died in a school dormitory fire in central China, state media reported on Saturday.

The blaze at the Yingcai School in the Yanshanpu village of Henan province’s Dushu town was reported to the local fire department at 11 p.m. on Friday night, the Beijingrun Xinhua News Agency said.

Thirteen students have been confirmed dead, the media outlet said, adding that one person was injured.

“Rescuers arrived at the scene quickly, and the flames were extinguished at 11:38 p.m.,” Xinhua said.

The injured survivor “is currently receiving treatment at the hospital and is in stable condition,” it added.

There were about 30 students at the dormitory when the fire broke out, news agency said. Of these, 16 were safely evacuated.

Yingcai is a private school that has existed for more than 10 years. Its students are from nearby rural areas.

Local authorities are investigating the fire’s cause, and at least one person linked to the school has been detained.

A work team was already sent to guide rescue and follow-up efforts, China’s Emergency Management Ministry said on Saturday.

Yanshanpu lies on the outskirts of Nanyang, a city of nearly 10 million.

Little information about the boarding school is publicly available, though social media videos published earlier showed young children, including kindergarten students, wearing smocks with the school’s logo, as well as older children learning calligraphy.

Chinese social media users on Saturday expressed outrage about the fire and called for any safety lapse to be punished.

“It’s too scary, 13 children from 13 families, all gone in an instant ... if there is no severe punishment, their souls will not rest in peace,” one commenter on the Weibo social media site wrote.

Fires and other deadly accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.

Last November, 26 people died and dozens were sent to the hospital after a fire at a coal company office in northern China’s Shanxi province.

Last July, 11 people died after the roof of a school gym collapsed in the country’s northeast.

The month before, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.

Last April, a hospital fire in the capital Beijing killed 29 people and forced desperate survivors to jump out of windows to escape.

After the coal company fire last November, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the country to “conduct in-depth investigations of hidden risks in key industries, improve emergency plans and prevention measures.”