In China, an inferno that tore through a restaurant during a busy lunchtime business resulted in at least 17 individuals being charred alive.
It began in Changchun, the provincial capital of Jilin, at about 12.40 p.m. local time at the Hongyu Xiaoyoubing People’s Restaurant.
The fire started at lunchtime, while people were inside the restaurant, according to CCTV, China’s national television station.
Three further victims of the fire were rushed to the hospital for medical attention, and the charred bodies of 17 persons were retrieved from the decaying structure.
Images show the structure erupting in flames and smoke. Firefighters put out the fire at around 3 o’clock.
The origin of the fire was being looked into.
According to a social media post from the management committee of the Changchun New Area industrial zone, which is a hub for the manufacture of automobiles, it took place there.
In China, where building rules are not strictly enforced and unlicensed construction is common, deadly fires routinely break out, making it difficult for people to escape burning structures.
An enormous fire that broke out earlier this month in Changsha’s downtown area partially destroyed a tower that housed a China Telecom office, although no injuries were recorded.
According to official media sources, a warehouse fire in northeastern Jilin province in July of last year resulted in the deaths of 15 individuals and the injuries of 25 more.
A martial arts school in northern Henan Province had a fire that killed 18 people—most of them children—the month before, sparking a controversy about fire safety regulations.
Another two dozen people killed in two fires that broke out in Beijing’s migrant neighborhoods in 2017, while 58 people died in a massive fire that tore through a 28-story housing complex in Shanghai in 2010.