Home / Photo News Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read | Comment
Fire engulfs 12-storey market building in Xinjiang
Adjust font size:

A strong fire and heavy smoke engulfed a 12-storey wholesale market building in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Wednesday night.

 

 

A total of 181 firefighters and 48 fire engines were still trying to contain the blaze below the fifth floor of Dehui International Plaza, where more than 2,000 peddlers sell clothes, cosmetics, toys and various kinds of commodities.

 

The building, which covers about 100,000 square meters in southern downtown Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, has been cordoned off and dozens of police were managing order in the area.

 

The market usually closes at 9 p.m.

 

It is still unknown how many people were injured or killed in the fire, which broke out at 8:20 p.m.

 

All guests in an adjacent 20-storey hotel have been safely evacuated.

 

Vehicles were forced to detour to a nearby overhead road but traffic around the railway station, which is on the opposite side of the building, remained in order.

 

The wholesale market is owned by a businessman from east China's Zhejiang Province who invested 380 million yuan (about 52 million U.S. dollars) in the project. The business began in 2003.

 

A security guard at the building said the fire initially burnt from the basement.

 

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2008)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Comment
Pet Name
Anonymous
China Archives
Related >>
- Underground Fire in Coal Seam in Xinjiang Put out
- Cargo Van Catches Fire in Urumqi
- Fire at Tire Warehouse in Xinjiang
Most Viewed >>
- Shanghai fuel oil futures jump 3.14%
- Fuel shortage as crude oil prices rocket
- CNOOC's 2 oil and gas fields start production in Bohai Bay
- More oil futures products needed
- Promoting civil servants
- New endeavor to build a harmonious world
- Chinese Oil Refining Business Under Pressure
- Will Raising Processed Oil Prices Push Up the CPI?
- Fuel oil futures trading robust
- Scientists seek keys to urban development

Product Directory
China Search
Country Search
Hot Buys