A massive fire has engulfed a nursing home in northern China’s Hebei province, killing at least 20 people.
The fire in Chengde city, some 180 kilometers from the national capital Beijing, broke out around 9 p.m. local time on Tuesday, and 20 people were confirmed dead by 3 a.m. on Wednesday, according to local media.
At least 19 injured persons were sent to a neighbouring hospital for further observation and treatment, while provincial administration experts were dispatched to the nursing home for “post-accident work”.
An investigation was underway to find the cause of the fire, state media reported, adding that a “relevant” person in charge of the facility had been taken in by police.
The investigation, consolation of the families of the victims and other work was being carried out “in an orderly manner”, the report added.
In China, fire hazards are still a problem; last year, fire-related accidents claimed the lives of hundreds of individuals.
Hebei province’s Zhangjiakou city saw a food market fire in January that left eight persons dead and fifteen injured.
In January of last year, 39 people were killed in a fire in a residential building in the Jiangxi province city of Xinyu.
The state council’s examination determined that the fire was a production safety incident. It was discovered that the building’s landlord had unlawfully leased the basement, where an unauthorized cold storage facility was being built at the time of the incident.
More than 947 fire fatalities were reported in the first six months of 2024 in China, according to Li Wanfeng, a spokesperson for the National Fire and Rescue Administration.
A major fire at a hospital in Beijing in April 2023 killed 29 people.
Patients trapped in the multistorey building tied bedsheets into makeshift ropes and escaped by climbing out of windows, according to video footage circulating on social media.
