A fire that erupted in the office of a coal company in northern China has killed 26 people, state media said on Thursday, the latest in a series of deadly accidents in the coal industry.
At least 38 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out at the four-storey Yongju Coal Industry Joint Building in the country’s top coal-producing hub of Shanxi. Calls to the company by the Reuters news agency were not answered.
China’s president, on a trip to the United States, urged the authorities to ensure more safety measures are put in place, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Xi Jinping said there was an “extremely profound lesson” to be learned from the fire. He said local governments must “conduct in-depth investigations of hidden risks in key industries, improve emergency plans and prevention measures”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Video footage posted on the social media site Weibo showed bright flames and thick black smoke billowing from the building, while dozens of people stood in the parking lot watching.
The building shown in the video matched images of the coal company’s headquarters posted on its website. Emergency response personnel could be seen in the footage racing to put on protective gear outside a fire truck parked at the building’s entrance.
Earlier CCTV said 63 people had been evacuated from the site, 51 of whom were hospitalised. The reports did not say if any of those taken to hospital had died.
All mining firms in Lishi district, where the accident occurred, were asked to suspend production, state media reported, citing local emergency management bureau.
Police have detained several people for questioning, CCTV reported, adding that the cause of the fire had been “brought under control” and the blaze was being investigated.
It also said that an unspecified number of people were being held by police and were under investigation in connection with the fire, citing the rescue site command.
China’s State Council has dispatched a team to the area to guide the rescue and emergency response work, according to CCTV.
China’s coal producers are under scrutiny for a series of accidents in mines in recent months, which has weighed on production as mines then stop work for safety inspections.
Industrial accidents are also common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.
In July, 11 people died after the roof of a school gym collapsed in the country’s northeast.
In June, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety. In April, a hospital fire in Beijing killed 29 people and forced desperate survivors to jump out of windows to escape.
One of the worst such accidents took place in 2015 in Tianjin, where a gigantic explosion at a chemical warehouse killed at least 165 people.
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
