BEIJING – A fire at a shoe factory in eastern China on Tuesday January 14th 2014 killed at least 16 people, Chinese media reported.
The blaze broke out at the Dadong factory in the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province, state broadcaster CCTV said. Firefighters put it out about three hours later and rescued more than 20 people, it said.
The report didn’t say how the fire started. Such factories often contain large amounts of adhesives and other flammable chemicals.
An official with the fire service in the surrounding city of Taizhou, who gave only his surname, Luo, confirmed the fire, but said he had no further details.
China suffers frequent industrial accidents and 121 people were killed in a poultry plant fire in the country’s northeast last June. That fire was triggered by a short circuit, but investigators found the plant’s safety exits were blocked, trapping workers inside.
