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The fire, which broke out at the offices of a coal company in Shanxi province, also left at least 38 other people hospitalized, state media reported. The cause was not immediately clear.
By Mike Ives and Joy Dong
Reporting from Seoul and Hong Kong
At least 26 other people were killed and 38 others hospitalized when a fire broke out at the offices of a coal company in a provincial city southwest of Beijing on Thursday, Chinese state media reported.
The fire broke out around 7 a. m. at the offices of Yongju Coal Company in Lüliang, a town in the northern province of Shanxi, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The building has 4 floors. The fire, which started on the second floor, was extinguished around 3:00 p. m. m. , according to China Central Television Channel.
Few other major points became available without delay. The Chinese government has not speculated on a conceivable cause. Some state media reported that the incident occurred at a construction site where workers shower and wash clothes.
Last November, a fire at a two-story factory in central China’s Henan province killed at least 38 people.
A few days later, a fire in an apartment building in the far western region of Xinjiang killed at least 10 more people. Many others suspected that the Covid lockdown had hampered relief efforts or trapped patients inside their homes, and their anger sparked protests. in cities across China that oppose the government’s Covid policy.
Lüliang, the city where the fire broke out on Thursday, is located in a mountainous region of northern China, where rich coal deposits fueled a national economic boom that began in the late 20th century.
In 2014, after current Chinese leader Xi Jinping took the lead and launched a nationwide anti-corruption campaign, Lüliang was known locally for something else: having been the scene of some of the most radical political and economic purges in China’s recent history.
Mike Ives is a reporter for the Times in Seoul and covers news from around the world. Learn more about Mike Ives
Joy Dong covers news from mainland China and Hong Kong. She is in Hong Kong. @JoyDongHK Learn more about Joy Dong
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