China: Five killed in Beijing house fire

Representational image (Photo: Getty Images)


Five people were killed and eight others injured when a residential building caught fire in Beijing’s Chaoyang district on Wednesday.

The fire broke out at a village house in Shibalidian Township, the fire department said. The injured were taken to hospital, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The fire was triggered by flames from an electric bicycle, the fire department said.

This is the second fire incident in Beijing in recent weeks. Nineteen people were killed and eight injured in a house fire on Nov 19. The incident led to the evacuation of thousands of migrant labour from the city.

A number of fire incidents have taken place elsewhere in China recently.

On December 10, eight people were killed in a fire at Haifeng County of south China’s Guangdong Province.

Ten People were killed and five others injured when fire broke out at 38th floor of an apartment in Tianjin on December 1.