Victims 'still missing' after fatal market blaze

(China daily)
Updated: 2009-09-07 07:08

At least nine people were killed and six others injured in a blaze at a farmers' market in Jilin province Sunday.

The fire started around 9 am in the downtown area of Meihekou, local authorities said.

Eyewitnesses told China Daily that one of the market's two exits had been totally destroyed.

It was believed several victims were still trapped in the market when police sealed off the area at 7 pm.

More than 10 people were injured in the blaze, according to eyewitnesses, who said five were taken to a city hospital in Tonghua - which administers Meihekou - for treatment and the rest were admitted at the local Aimin hospital.

The fire was extinguished around 10:30 am and the cause is being investigated, police said.

Firefighters evacuated more than 150 people from the market and another 200 from the surrounding neighborhood, local authorities said in a statement.

Built in 2002, the State-owned market is the largest in the city. Fires due to electric wiring have been common, local vendors said.

The wholesale market has two areas, one occupying 2,000 sq m while the other takes up around 1,000 sq m. Sunday's incident occurred in the smaller area but a similar fire broke out just 10 days earlier in the large one. There were no causalties reported.

Grocer Wang Guiren and his wife, as well as three members of wholesaler Miao Lin's family, were among the first confirmed victims Sunday, said local residents.

Local publicity officials told China Daily it would be another three or four days before the identities of all the victims could be determined with DNA tests.