The 10 people who died
in a fire at a restaurant in south China's Guangdong Province
included five restaurant staff and five customers, a fire control
official said on Thursday.
The five customers were
migrant workers from other provinces and Huzhou city of Guangdong,
said Zhang Xiaohong, director of the fire control bureau of
Dongguan, denying reports that foreigners were among the
victims.
The nine injured -- one
seriously -- had been sent to two hospitals in Zhangmutou town
where the Mingdian Western-style Food Restaurant was located, Zhang
added.
Fire insurance experts
from the Ministry of Public Security have arrived at the site to
help investigate the cause of the fire.
The fire was reported at
5:07 p.m. on Wednesday and was put out in 15 minutes after
spreading to more than 400 square meters, nine hours after another
fire in east China's Zhejiang Province claimed 21 lives.
A senior official with
the Dongguan government said the fire started in an air
conditioner, possibly with faulty electric wiring, on the first
floor and spread quickly, consuming many inflammable objects such
as tablecloths, carpets, sofas and curtains.
All the people on the
first floor escaped, but 10 on the second floor died, mostly of
poisoning and suffocation, the official added.
Meanwhile, initial
investigations found the fire in Zhejiang was also caused by faulty
electrical wiring.
(Xinhua News Agency
December 14, 2007)