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Christmas Day bar fire kills 26 in China
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-26 21:28
A fire in an unlicensed restaurant bar killed 26 people
and injured 11 during a Christmas Day party in southern China.
Investigators survey the site after a
fire swept a bar and left 26 dead, 11 injured in Zhongshan, South China's
Guangzhong Province. The fire occurred around 11:00pm Sunday night in
Tanzhou township in Zhongshan, according to Xinhua reports. The cause of
the accident is under investigation. [Xinhua] |
More than 100 people were taking part in a prize draw when the
blaze broke out at about 11:00 pm Sunday in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, some
100 kilometres (60 miles) from Hong Kong, said China Central Television.
The fire completely gutted the 240 square-meter (2,600 square-feet)
ground-floor Tandao restaurant bar in Tanzhou township, the China Fire Services
said on their website. There was no immediate information on the victims.
Sixty-seven people were rescued, and the blaze was put out in less than 30
minutes, the state television station said Monday.
The bar had been unlicensed and the owner had been detained, an official at
the Zhongshan city government propaganda department told AFP.
The cause of the fire was still unclear, said the official, who declined to
give his name.
"According to initial investigation, the fire started
first, then an explosion probably occurred," he said.
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