Fire in Bar Kills at Least 26, Injures 11 in South China
A fire in a bar killed at least 26 people and injured 11 in southern China, news reports and a local official said today.
The fire broke out at 11 p.m. Sunday in Zhongshan, a mainland city just northwest of Hong Kong, the official New China News Agency said.
At least 26 people were killed, said an official who answered the phone at the propaganda office of Zhongshan’s Communist Party branch. The official declined to give his name.
“This small bar is an illegal business inside a restaurant,” he said. “The bar owner has been detained for investigation.”
Hong Kong’s Cable TV quoted witnesses as saying that there was a blast before the fire erupted in the bar in Zhongshan’s Tanzhou area.
Police officers cordoned off the building and nearby roads, TV footage showed. Many of the injured suffered severe burns and were sent to a local hospital, Cable TV reported.
A police officer in Tanzhou reached by phone ruled out arson as the cause, but declined to say more. A resident quoted witnesses as saying that disco lights fell to the ground and exploded after the boss handed out Christmas gifts.
Christmas has been gaining popularity in recent years among young Chinese.
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