China: Tragic Fire in Jiangxi Province Kills at Least 39, Including Students

A fire ripped through a mixed-use building in southern China on Wednesday, January 24, leaving 39 dead and nine others injured. According to official media, this is the second tragic fire involving students in the last seven days.

Fire Kills More Than 30 People

The blaze broke out in the basement of a building facing the street in Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province. It swiftly spread to the ground-floor stores and the second-story tutoring center and guesthouse, as reported by CNN.

Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said that the majority of the casualties, trapped in the engulfing flames and dense plumes of smoke, were college students enrolled in courses at the facility and guests at the inn.

Early investigations have indicated that the fire originated from unauthorized renovations to a basement cold storage facility. Reportedly, 12 individuals had been apprehended.

A video of the most recent fire in China has gone viral on social media, showing people using a second-floor window to jump and land on a mattress that had been placed on the street with the assistance of the police.

Thick black smoke is seen billowing out from the building and engulfing the sky above the street while others descend a ladder around the building's corner.

The second-floor residents may have been unable to pinpoint the source of the fire due to the thickness of the smoke. An individual who managed to flee from a ground-floor internet café told the state-controlled Beijing Daily that the others could have been afraid to rush toward the staircase because they believed it was on fire.

According to another eyewitness, a large number of kids were present at the academy when the fire started.

Those who managed to escape were mostly young adults, around the ages of 19 and 20, who were also students. The witness said that although some managed to flee on their own, others were saved by the fire department.

Yet Another Major Incident Involving Safety

Addressing the incident, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that it was yet another big safety tragedy to have happened recently and urged people to think deeply about what happened. He urged the government and the Communist Party to take firm action to reduce the number of safety accidents, protect people and their property, and maintain social stability.

Days earlier, 13 third graders lost their lives in a fire that broke out in a boarding school dormitory in the central province of Henan last week. The cause of the fire has not been revealed by the authorities.

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China, Fire, Students, Xi Jinping