Tens of thousands of people turned out in the bitter cold
yesterday for the funeral of three firefighters who died on duty
last week while battling a fire that raged for 30 hours in Urumqi,
the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The three firefighters, Zhu Xiaolei, Zhang Yu and Gao Feng, were
honored with the title "Revolutionary Martyr" by the Ministry of
Public Security.
They died on Thursday while searching for trapped survivors in
the 12-story Doowin International Plaza that housed more than 2,000
small stalls on the first four levels and offices on the remaining
floors.
The Doowin Group, owner of the plaza, said it would return the
rent to its tenants while an employee said the damage to the
property alone might be 380 million yuan (US$52.27 million), Xinhua
news agency reported today.
The Doowin Group also promised to find stalls for 500 tenants at
another property it owns.
All of the 1,046 tenants in the plaza and 600 of more than 800
investors have registered for compensation. Total losses are still
being calculated, the report said.
Most of the tenants in the building were from Zhejiang
Province.
Taizhou City's Chamber of Commerce yesterday donated more than
280,000 yuan to the affected tenants, according to the report.
The Doowin Group's bank accounts have been frozen.
Two others were reported missing after the fire and police have
begun DNA tests to identify two bodies recovered from the debris on
Saturday, according to previous reports.
The Doowin International Plaza was a wholesale market that
housed about 2,000 vendors of clothing, toys and household
supplies. It had a total area of about 100,000 square meters and
opened in 2003. The Doowin Group's headquarters was in the
building.
The government of Urumqi will demolish the 12-story building
since it was gutted in the fire.
(Shanghai Daily January 8, 2008)