Four students die leaping from blaze at Shanghai school

By Cao Li and Wang Zhenghua (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-15 10:20

SHANGHAI -- Four young women leapt to their deaths from a sixth-floor balcony on Friday morning, after their room in a university dormitory caught fire, the municipal public security bureau said in a statement.

Chen Rui, 19, from Sichuan; Liu Wenwen, 21, from Jiangsu; and Shanghai locals Wang Jiayan and Zhang Yanping, both 20, were all students at the Shanghai Business School.

"The four students died instantly after jumping from the balcony to escape the blaze," the statement said.

Firefighters inspect the dorm room after putting out a fire in it at the Shanghai Business School November 14, 2008. [Xinhua]

"No other people or rooms were affected," it said.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at 6:12 am, two minutes after it broke out, but they did not arrive at the scene until 6:40 am, the statement said.

Gu Feng, a student living on the third floor of the dormitory, told China Daily he was woken by loud cries and screams, then saw flames coming from an upstairs balcony.

He said he was told that the four girls who were killed had stayed in the room to fight the fire, while their two roommates went to get water.

"By the time the two girls came back, the door frame had been bent out of shape. They couldn't get back in and the four girls inside couldn't get out," he said.

"One of my roommates saw that the girls were about to leap from the balcony, so he shouted 'Don't jump!'

"Seconds later a girl fell past our balcony, followed by the three others," he said.

Another student, who asked not to be named, told China Daily that she saw the girls throw down blankets before they jumped.

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