The fire in an eastern China apartment building resulted in the deaths of fifteen people and injuries to over 40 others, as reported by local authorities.
A video on social media showed fire and dark smoke covering many floors of a tall building in Nanjing city.
Authorities believe the fire began on the ground floor of the building where they kept electric bikes.
The reason for the fire is still being looked into.
The building is in the Yuhuatai district of Nanjing, a city with over eight million people. It’s about 162 miles (260km) northwest of Shanghai.
Emergency teams were told about the fire at 4:40 am on Friday, the officials said on Saturday.
Twenty-five trucks with water and 130 firefighters went to put out the fire. The fire was put out by 6:00 in the morning and the search and rescue operation finished at around 2:00 in the afternoon.
Officials said that out of the 44 people sent to the hospital for treatment, one is in critical condition and another is seriously injured.
At a meeting with reporters, Nanjing mayor Chen Zhichang said sorry and expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims.
Aerial pictures of the tall building were posted on Friday after the fire was put out. The photos showed some apartments with blackened walls.
“Fires and other very bad accidents happen a lot in China because they don’t always make sure that safety rules are followed. ”
A lot of deadly fires have been happening in the country. President Xi Jinping said we need to think about this and work harder to prevent safety accidents from happening so often.
The Nanjing fire happened one month after a fire at a school dormitory in China’s Henan province killed 13 children aged nine and ten.
Several days after the fire broke out at a shop in Xinyu, at least 39 people died and nine were hurt. The fire started in the shop’s basement.
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Nanjing flat fire claims 15 lives and injured numerous others in China
