Yanshanbu, China.
Thirteen children died want Start a fire in the bedroom A Practice In central China, state media reported the news on Saturday, sparking an uproar Outrage on social media.
At around 11:00pm local time on Friday, firefighters were alerted to a fire at the Yingkai boarding school in Yanshanbu village, Henan province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
According to this media 13 students died and another was injured.
A teacher told Hebei Daily that all the victims were students from the same primary class, aged between 9 and 10.
The injured man is currently being treated in hospital and is in stable condition, Xinhua said.
Rescue teams rushed to the spot and doused the fire at 11:38 am,” he added.
Local authorities are investigating the origin of the fire and have arrested at least one person linked to the school, the same media reported.
The area near the school was cordoned off Saturday night, with more than a dozen police officers patrolling, AFP journalists noted.
Anger on the networks
Yanshanpu Village is located on the outskirts of Nanyang, a city of nearly ten million people.
The streets of the city were practically empty on Saturday night. Only a few curious people were on the other side of the police cordon.
A woman explained to AFP that some of the students' parents left their children at the boarding school while they worked outside the region.
In videos posted on social media before the tragedy, children, some preschoolers, can be seen wearing robes emblazoned with the school logo, while other older students can be seen reading calligraphy.
On Chinese social networks, internet users expressed their anger and demanded that authorities impose sanctions if security regulations are not respected.
“It was terrible, 13 children from 13 families, all gone in one second (…). If there is no severe punishment, their souls will not rest,” wrote one social media user. China Weibo.
Fatal fires are common China Due to lower safety standards and flexible application of regulations.
In November, a fire at the offices of a coal company in the northern province of Shaanxi killed 26 people and hospitalized dozens more.
In July, 11 people died when the roof of a gymnasium collapsed in the northeast China. And a month ago, an explosion at a Northwest restaurant killed 31 people.
In April, a fire at a Beijing hospital killed 29 people, where some jumped from windows to escape the blaze.
Following the fire in Shaanxi, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the country to “conduct comprehensive investigations into hidden dangers in key industries and improve emergency plans and prevention measures.”
