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| Footage from the scene shows the charred exterior of the poultry plant |
China: A fire at a poultry processing plant in China has killed at least 119 people, officials say.
The fire broke out at a slaughterhouse in Dehui in Jilin province early on Monday.
Accounts speak of explosions prior to the fire, which caused
panic and a crush of workers trying to escape. Some exits were said to
be locked.
The fire is now said to have been mostly put out and bodies are being recovered.
Sources including the provincial fire department suggest
there may have been an ammonia leak which either caused the fire or made
fighting the blaze more hazardous.
Other reports speak of an electrical fault.
It is China's deadliest fire since 2000, when 309 people died in a blaze in a dance hall in Luoyang, in Henan province.
About 100 workers had managed to escape from the Baoyuan
plant, Xinhua said, adding that the "complicated interior structure" of
the building and narrow exits had made rescue work more difficult.
It said the plant's front gate was locked when the blaze began.
The number of workers trapped inside the plant has yet to be
confirmed, the agency added, and it is not clear how many workers have
been accounted for. An unnamed government official told AFP news agency
he expected the death toll to rise.
Dozens of injured have been sent to hospital, but the severity of their injuries remains unclear.
Pictures from the scene showed the roof mostly burned away to reveal blackened, twisted girders.
The provincial government said it sent more than 500
firefighters and at least 270 doctors and nurses to the scene,
evacuating an area nearby that is home to 3,000 people as a precaution,
reported Reuters news agency. Continue Reading...
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