Thaindian News

Beijing, April 25 (IANS) Seventeen people were killed and 24 others were injured when a fire broke out in a four-storey building in Beijing Monday. It was the worst fire accident in the Chinese capital in nearly a decade, say officials.

Most of the victims were migrant workers, said Wang Xin, deputy chief of the Daxing district committee of the Communist Party of China.

Thirteen of the victims worked in an unlicensed garment shop, while four others were tenants in the building, Xinhua reported.

The injured were taken to hospitals.

The fire broke out around 1 a.m., and raged on for an hour before it was put out.

Officials and witnesses said the blaze started in the ground floor of the building that was leased out to the garment shop.

“We saw people jumping from the building. About six or seven people, clad in pajamas, flung themselves from the first floor,” said Wang Xuegang, a local resident.

“It was a real nightmare. Some jumped from the top floor and never rose again,” said Wang.

The narrow roads in the area prevented the entry of the fire engines to the site, and firefighters had to manually carry the hoses to the site to douse the blaze, said Wang.

“The first floor was filled with choking fumes. With no way to leave, my wife and I jumped from a platform at the top of the building,” said Xu, a survivor who suffered broken legs.

A probe into the cause of the fire is under way.

In 2002, 25 people, mostly college students, were killed in an underground internet cafe fire in Beijing.