Local authorities in Nanjing, eastern China reported that a residential apartment caught fire, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 44 injuries.
At a news conference, officials said that the fire occurred early on Friday morning. According to initial evaluation, the fire may have originated on the first level of the building, where electric bikes were stored. The location of the building is in the Yuhuatai district of Nanjing, a city of more than eight million located about 260 kilometres in the northwest of Shanghai.
According to the officials, the search and rescue effort was called around 2pm on Friday and the fire was put out by 6am (2200 GMT). They further said 44 wounded people were sent to a hospital for treatment.
Many people lost their lives in January when a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu. According to state news agency Xinhua, workers in the business's basement started the fire.
That incident occurred only a few days after 13 students were murdered in a late-evening dormitory fire at a school in the Henan region of central China.
According to domestic media accounts, an electric heating device was the reason of the incident.
The previous month, a statewide campaign to promote workplace safety was officially announced following an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the country’s northwest that claimed the lives of thirty-one people.
Due to a number of tragic fires in China in recent months, President Xi Jinping called for "deep reflection" and increased efforts to “curb the frequent occurrence of safety accidents”.
