At least 6 killed, 30 rescued in huge shopping mall fire in China
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About 17 people were rescued from the building in the city of Zigong in Sichuan province.
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BEIJING – A fire at a shopping centre in south-western China killed at least six people on July 17, state media reported, with 30 others rescued from the blaze.
“Six people have been killed at the moment. The rescue teams are continuing search and rescue,” state broadcaster CCTV said.
Footage broadcast by the channel and shared on social media showed thick black smoke rising from a building in Zigong city in Sichuan province.
“By 8.20pm, the fire had been extinguished,” CCTV said, but adding that “some people are still trapped and rescue operations are continuing”.
The fire started in the early evening at the shopping centre at the foot of a 14-storey building.
Other images shared on social media – which Agence France-Presse could not immediately verify – show people gathered in front of the burning building.
Fire engines and ambulances could be seen nearby.
Zigong’s emergency services department received news about the fire 6.11am local time and immediately dispatched firefighters to extinguish the blaze, CCTV said.
The emergency department has called on the public to “not to believe or amplify rumours” about the fire.
Zigong, some 1,900km from capital Beijing, is home to nearly 2.5 million people.
Fires and other deadly accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.
In January, dozens died after a fire broke out at a store
At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to avoid further tragedies.
Also in January, a fire in a residential building killed at least 15 people.
That fire came just days after a late-evening blaze at a school
In 2023, a rare fire in a Beijing hospital
