Sixteen people were killed in a fire at a department store in China’s Sichuan province on the evening of July 17, state media said.
The fire broke out in a 14-storey building in a high-tech zone of the city of Zigong, shrouding the vicinity with thick smoke, according to Xinhua news agency on July 18.
Rescue operations concluded at around 3am on July 18, according to local fire and rescue services cited by Xinhua.
Video broadcast by state media outlet CCTV and shared on social media showed thick black smoke billowing out of the tower.
The blaze started in the early evening in a shopping centre at the foot of the building, the channel said.
Around 30 people were rescued from the complex, with the fire extinguished by rescuers around 8.20pm on July 17, CCTV said.
Footage provided by a drone operator to AFP showed fire trucks and other first responders blocking off the road late at night and spraying the charred building.
Zigong’s emergency services department received news about the fire at around 6.10pm and immediately dispatched firefighters to extinguish the blaze, the broadcaster said.
The emergency department has called on the public to “not to believe or amplify rumours” about the fire.
Zigong, around 1,900km from the capital Beijing, is home to nearly 2.5 million people.
In January, dozens died after a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu, with Xinhua reporting the blaze had been caused by the “illegal” use of fire by workers in the store’s basement.
The same month, a fire in a residential building killed at least 15 people. That fire came just days after a late-evening blaze at a school in central China’s Henan province killed 13 children as they slept in a dormitory.
In June 2023, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the north-west of the country left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.
In April 2023, a fire in a Beijing hospital claimed 29 lives and forced desperate patients to jump from windows to escape. (StraitsTimes)