Massive fire at China Coal Company building leaves 11 dead and 51 injured

Eleven people were killed and 51 were hospitalized after a fire ripped through a building in northern China’s Shanxi province on Thursday.

The fire broke out at roughly 6:50 am (2250 GMT on Wednesday) in a four-story structure owned by the Yongju coal company in Lishi District, Luliang City, Shanxi Province.

According to the report, eleven people have been confirmed dead and the specific number of casualties is still being counted.

So far, 63 people have been evacuated, with 51 of them being taken to the Luliang First People’s Hospital for treatment.

Rescue efforts are still ongoing, and the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Video footage released by Weibo showed blazing flames and heavy black smoke pouring from the structure as scores of people stood in the parking lot watching.

The video’s building matched photographs of the company’s headquarters on its website.

In the video, emergency responders can be seen running to put on protective gear outside a firetruck parked near the building’s entrance.

Due to inadequate safety standards and poor enforcement, industrial accidents are common in China.

Eleven people were killed in July when the ceiling of a school gym in the country’s northeast collapsed.

A month earlier, 31 people were killed in an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China, prompting official promises of a statewide push to promote workplace safety.

A hospital fire in Beijing killed 29 people in April, forcing frantic survivors to jump out of windows to escape.

One of the biggest such catastrophes occurred in Tianjin in 2015, when a massive explosion at a chemical warehouse killed at least 165 people.

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