2024-01-20 03:49:17
Thirteen people died in a fire in a school dormitory in Henan province, in central China, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
The fire broke out around 11 p.m. Friday in the dormitory of a school located in the village of Yanshanpu, in Henan province.
“At 11 p.m. on Friday, the local fire department received an alert about a fire in the Yingcai School dormitory in Yanshanpu village,” state media said, adding that one person was injured.
She is “currently being treated in hospital and is in stable condition,” Xinhua news agency said.
According to this source, “help arrived quickly on the scene and the flames were extinguished at 11:38 p.m.”.
Local authorities have opened an investigation to determine the causes of the fire, state media said, adding that at least one person linked to the school had been arrested.
Online anger
Little information is available about the school where the fire broke out Friday, but videos posted on social media before the incident showed young children – including kindergarten students – dressed in scrubs with the emblem of the establishment, learning calligraphy.
Xinhua news agency did not specify whether children were among the victims.
On Chinese social networks, Internet users expressed their anger on Saturday, calling on the authorities to apply sanctions in the event of non-compliance with safety standards.
“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 of them wrote on the Chinese social network Weibo.
Accidents occur regularly in China, often due to insufficient safety standards and corruption among those responsible for enforcing them.
In November, 26 people died and dozens were hospitalized following a fire at a coal production company building in Shanxi province.
In Beijing, a fire in a hospital killed 29 people in April, one of the worst disasters to occur in the capital in more than twenty years.
This fire forced patients to escape through windows by hanging on sheets and to take refuge by perching on air conditioners attached to the facade.
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