Fire in Chongqing, no casualties

CHONGQING: Six people are under police surveillance for being involved in a fire that engulfed a downtown commercial building in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality early Saturday, city authorities said.

The fire, which engulfed a seven-story wing of the Saibo Digital Plaza in the downtown Gaoxin District, burned for five hours before it was put out at 4:40 a.m., said a spokesman with the city's fire brigade.
Firefighters saved more than 230 people, and no causalities had been reported so far, he said.

The fire started on the second floor of the wing at 12:19 a.m, but rapidly spread to all the seven floors. Up to 1,000 firefighters and police officers were mobilized to put out the fire, the spokesman said.

An initial investigation suggests the fire broke out when a local advertisement company was removing a neon light billboard from the building's outer wall. Investigators suspected the fire was caused by a short circuit during improper operation.

Saibo Digital Plaza, which has 41 stories, is a landmark of Chongqing. The wing building that caught fire is full of stores that sell computers, cell phones and other digital products.

[Photo/Xinhua]

[Photo/Xinhua]