At least 17 people have died after a huge blaze erupted in a busy restaurant in northeast China.
The inferno ripped through the small diner, located in Changchun, during a lunchtime rush at 12.40pm local time (5.40am UK time), according to China's state television channel CCTV.
Fire crews rushed to the scene and managed to rescue three people, but at least 17 were killed.
The burnt remains of 17 people were retrieved from the building, while injured survivors were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
According to reports, the fire broke out in the Hongyu Xiaoyoubing People's Restaurant, located in the capital of Jilin province.
A shocking video circulated on popular Chinese social media site Weibo, shows thick black smoke billowing from the one-storey building out onto the streets, where terrified locals watched helplessly.
Fire services were able to douse the blaze and it put it out at roughly 3pm.
Local authorities said the fire broke out at 12.40pm on Wednesday and firefighters had managed to rescue survivors and contain the huge blaze within three hours.
The emergency management ministry has ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire and dispatched a team of investigators to the site.
The local fire rescue team had dispatched 13 vehicles and 60 people to carry out fire fighting work, the ministry added.
Authorities say the owner of the restaurant is in custody, pending investigation.
The news comes shortly after a 42-storey skyscraper in the city of Changsha, capital of Hunan province, became engulfed in flames on September 16.
Although the fire was much larger than the blaze in Changchun's diner, no casualties were reported.
In June, one person was killed after a fire broke out at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co plant.
CCTV says the cause of the accident remains under investigation.
