15 dead in China residential building fire

At least 15 people were killed and 44 others injured in a fire that broke out at an apartment block in eastern China’s Nanjing, Al Jazeera reports quoting local authorities on Saturday.

The blaze in the Yuhuatai district of Nanjing appears to have started on Friday on the residential building’s first floor, where electric bikes were stored, officials said at a press conference, citing the results of a preliminary investigation.

The fire was put out by about 6am and a search and rescue operation was wrapped up at about 2pm on Friday, authorities said.

Forty-four people were sent to hospital for treatment, according to authorities, with one person in a “critical condition”.

Twenty-five fire trucks were deployed to fight the blaze, emergency services said.

Footage shared on Chinese social media sites showed a skyscraper on fire at night, with black smoke emitting from the structure.

Fires and other disasters are a common occurrence in China, where safety standards have lagged behind the country’s break-neck development.