BEIJING: A fire on Sunday at a high-rise building in Taiyuan, the capital of China’s northern province of Shanxi, killed at least 14 people, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
State media said 25 people remained in hospital, nine with serious injuries, citing authorities after the fire broke out on Sunday evening in the building on a busy main road in the city centre.
Smoke billowed over the 40-storey structure as firefighters positioned on cranes outside battled flames that spread upwards from a lower annex, video images circulated online and verified by Reuters showed.
The fire appears to have started around the fourth floor of the annex before spreading to the eighth and ninth floors, which house a hotel, state broadcaster CCTV said.
The entire building is a mixed-use commercial and residential property with several hotels, short-term rental apartments, smaller venues and tutoring centres, the report said.
The fire was put out after about two hours and authorities said rescue operations wrapped up at 8.30pm on Sunday, with 38 people taken to hospital.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire in the northern manufacturing hub, state media added.