Fire In School Dorm In China Kills 13

A fire in a dormitory at a school in central China has killed 13 people and injured another, Chinese state media reported on Saturday. The fire broke out on Friday night in the dormitory of Yingcai School at Yanshanpu Village, near Nanyang City in Henan province, China Central Television Station and Xinhua News Agency said.

The fire was extinguished quickly by firefighters and the head of the school was taken into custody, they added. But they gave no further details regarding the incident.

One of the injured survivor "is currently receiving treatment at the hospital and is in stable condition", according to Xinhua. Meanwhile local authorities are investigating the fire's cause, and at least one person linked to the school has been detained, the official Xinhua news agency Xinhua said.

Yanshanpu village lies on the outskirts of Nanyang, a city of nearly 10 million. It is stated that a very little information about the boarding school is publicly available, though social media videos published earlier showed young children including kindergarteners wearing smocks with the school's logo as well as older children learning calligraphy.

But Xinhua failed to determine how many of the dead were children. Chinese social media users on Saturday expressed outrage about the fire and called for any safety lapses to be punished. "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 commenter on the Weibo social site wrote.

Fires and other deadly accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement. Earlier in November, 26 people died and dozens were sent to hospital after a fire at a coal company office in northern China's Shanxi province. On the other hand in July, 11 people died after the roof of a school gym collapsed in the country's northeast.

The month before, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.

Reuters