Eleven people died in a hotel blaze in eastern Zhejiang Province early on Friday, local officials said.
The fire broke out at 1:50 AM at the four-story Chengshuai Hotel, in Yiting Town, Yiwu City. An initial investigation showed that the blaze was caused by the ignition of aging power lines.
Firefighters rescued 23 people, of whom 15 were hospitalized. Eleven of those -- six women and five men -- died due to suffocation, hospital authorities said.
The fire consumed the first and second floors, which were dining areas. The casualties were mostly guests sleeping on the third and fourth floors.
The hotel's owner, surnamed Bao, was seriously burned when she tried to rescue guests. She was rushed to a hospital in Hangzhou, the provincial capital.
The fire was put out within an hour. Rescue efforts have ended.
Wang Huizhong, head of the Zhejiang Provincial Public Security Bureau, and senior officials of Yiwu and Jinhua City, which includes Yiwu, have gone to Yiting to help deal with the disaster.
In a separate case, police announced on Friday they had arrested a man surnamed Chen in connection with a shoe factory blaze on Oct. 21 last year in neighboring Fujian Province. Thirty-seven people were killed and 21 were injured in the fire.
(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2008)
