At least 17 people are burned alive as inferno rips through restaurant during busy lunch service in China
The fire started at about 12:40 PM local time in the lunch break of the restaurant in Changchun
The fire killed 17 people and injured three, who were taken to hospital for treatment
Video footage shows smoke and flames coming out of the building
The restaurant inferno was extinguished by the fire brigade around 3 p.m
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At least 17 people were burned alive after an inferno ripped through a restaurant during a busy lunch service in China.
It started at about 12:40 PM local time at the Hongyu Xiaoyoubing People’s Restaurant in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province.
According to the Chinese state television channel CCTV, customers were at the diner during the lunch hour when the fire broke out.
Three people were injured and taken to hospital for treatment and the charred remains of 17 people were removed from the dilapidated building.
Footage shows smoke and flames coming out of the building. The fire was extinguished by firefighters around 3 p.m.
The cause of the fire was investigated.
It happened in the Changchun New Area industrial zone, a car manufacturing center, according to a social media post from the management committee.
At least 17 people were burned alive after an inferno ripped through a restaurant during a busy lunch service in China. It started at about 12:40 PM local time at the Hongyu Xiaoyoubing People’s Restaurant in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province.
The fire injured three other people who were taken to hospital for treatment and the charred remains of 17 people were removed from the dilapidated building.
Deadly fires are common in China, where lax enforcement of building codes and widespread unauthorized construction can make it difficult for people to flee burning buildings.
Earlier this month, a massive fire in the central city of Changsha engulfed part of a skyscraper that housed an office of the state-owned telecommunications company China Telecom, but there were no casualties.
In July last year, a fire at a warehouse in northeastern Jilin province killed 15 people and injured 25 others, according to state media reports.
The month before, 18 people – mostly children – were killed at a martial arts school in central Henan province, sparking a stir over fire safety standards.
A further two dozen people died in a few fires in Beijing’s migrant neighborhoods in 2017, while 58 people were killed when a massive fire swept through a 28-storey residential block in Shanghai in 2010.