A fire in a furniture market in north China's Hebei Province on Monday killed at least nine people and left one other injured, the local authority said.

The blaze broke out at about 10 a.m. at the Sunshine Furniture Market in Quyang County, about 200 km southwest of Beijing, said a Hebei Provincial Work Safety Administration spokesman.

The fire had been extinguished. It was not immediately known how the blaze started.

An investigation into the accident was underway, the spokesman said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2008)