Twenty-eight people have been killed following a fire at a shoe factory in Jinjiang City, east China's Fujian Province, on Thursday, local authorities said.
The blaze broke out at the factory of Huiteng Shoes Co., Ltd. in Jiangtou Village, Chendai Township, at 12:04, said the fire and rescue department of Quanzhou City, which administers Jinjiang.
Over 500 firefighters and 35 vehicles joined the rescue operation.
At the time of the fire, 237 factory workers and two external delivery personnel were at the scene.
A total of 213 people were evacuated, but two of them died after treatment failed at the hospital. Twenty-six missing persons were confirmed dead.
Police have detained the company's owner and several others suspected of bearing responsibility for the fire. Authorities have also frozen the company's accounts.
The Fujian provincial authorities have set up a leading group to handle the fire, with five subordinate working groups responsible for on-site rescue, accident investigation and aftermath management.
Authorities have also ordered an investigation to determine the nature of the accident and the responsibilities involved.
It is learned that the factory building is a five-story reinforced concrete structure, with each story spanning 1,300 square meters.
The fire started on the ground floor, where shoe-making materials stored were highly flammable and could cause a blaze to spread rapidly.
28 dead in shoe factory fire in east China
Floods triggered by rounds of torrential rain in the aftermath of Typhoon Maysak have left 39 people dead and nine reported missing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said on Thursday.
The death toll includes casualties resulting from a severe breach of a reservoir dam in the regional capital city of Nanning, according to a flood control and disaster relief press conference held at noon on Thursday.
However, officials noted that the death and missing tolls may overlap, as technical identification of some victims is still ongoing.
Following further verification, it was determined that the breach in Liulan Reservoir in Nanning has resulted in 26 deaths, including five unidentified individuals, and seven reported missing cases, said Ding Wei, vice mayor of Nanning.
Nanning had evacuated and resettled a total of 64,500 residents to safer places by Thursday morning. Meanwhile, the city has delivered 100,000 essential items to affected residents, including clothing, drinking water, food, medicine and power banks.
Following the dam breaches at Liulan Reservoir and Yunbiao Reservoir, local authorities invited water experts to the site to provide guidance on emergency rescue and disaster relief.
The experts mainly focused on assessing the dam breaches, and studying relevant measures to lower water level.
"Starting from Wednesday, we have repaired roads leading to the Liulan Reservoir. As of this morning, access to the dam crest is restored. Starting today, we will start dredging work," said Zhai Jianjia, deputy director of Nanning's water resources bureau.
Communication base stations in disaster-hit Hengzhou and Binyang County, both under the jurisdiction of Nanning, are now operating at 87.7 percent of regular capacity. Power has been restored to 63,000 households in these two areas, while traffic flow has resumed across several highway sections and major roads.
"Over 4,200 personnel and more than 1,300 vehicles have been mobilized to clean up silt, garbage and debris, and to conduct post-disaster epidemic prevention work. Over 300 specialists have been dispatched to severely affected areas such as Yunbiao Town and Xiaoyi Town in Hengzhou City, and Gantang Town in Binyang County to conduct environmental monitoring and disinfection," said Ding.
For the transportation of emergency supplies, Nanning relies on expressways and national and provincial highways to transport supplies to distribution points at the boundaries of flooded road sections, and then uses inflatable boats, drones, and other means to transfer them to resettlement sites for the affected people, ensuring their basic needs are met.
Floods in south China's Guangxi leave 39 dead, 9 reportedly missing: authorities
