BEIJING: Police in northeastern China have detained the owner of a
resort hotel where a fire killed 19 people and injured 23 others.
The public security bureau of the city of Harbin said on its official
social media account it was questioning the legal representative of the
Beilong Hot Spring Leisure Hotel on suspicion of negligence leading to
Saturday’s fire.
The disaster added to a string of deadly blazes that have plagued China
despite official efforts to improve public safety over the past two
decades.
The fire broke out at the four-story hotel in Harbin’s Sun Island
recreation area at 4:36 a.m. and was extinguished at 7:50 a.m. by a
force of 105 firefighters with 30 firetrucks, Chinese state television
said.
Firefighters found 18 people dead and one more died at a hospital, the
Harbin city government said on its social media account. It said 23
people were injured and more than 80 evacuated.
Harbin, with about 5 million people, is the second-largest city in
China’s northeast, after Shenyang. It is known for the Russian
architecture of its inner city and as the site of a winter festival with
sculptures made of ice blocks cut from the Songhua River.
The ruling Communist Party has tried to improve fire safety following
deadly blazes at hotels, shopping malls and apartment buildings. But the
country still suffers major fires.
In November, a fire blamed on faulty wiring at a Beijing apartment building killed 19 people.
A 2010 blaze at a Shanghai apartment tower killed at least 58 people. Authorities blamed sparks from a welder’s torch.
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