BEIJING: At least 39 people have been killed and nine suffered serious burn injuries after a fire broke out at a store in the central Chinese province of Jiangxi on Wednesday, state media reported.
“At 3:24 pm (0724 GMT) on January 24, a fire broke out on the below-ground level at a store… in Xinyu, Jiangxi,” the country’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The accident has killed 39 people, injures nine while many others are still trapped.
Video footage released by CCTV showed many fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles trying to extinguish fire.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in a statement about the incident said that it was yet another safety tragedy. He called on the government and Communist Party to curb the frequent occurrence of various safety accidents, and ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.
The statement also included orders for the State Council’s Work Safety Committee to ensure proper safety mechanism. The local government said that the cause of the blaze is under investigation.
The tragic incident comes just five days after a late-evening fire at a school in central China’s Henan province killed 13.
