Deadly Blaze in Guangdong: 12 Die as Fire Rips Through South-China Apartment Block

A inferno tore through a four-storey residential building in Shantou, Guangdong province on the night of Dec 9, leaving 12 people dead, according to state media.

The fire, reported at about 9:20 pm in the city’s Chaonan District was brought under control roughly 40 minutes later, but not before it had devastated roughly 150 square metres of the building.

Authorities said the building was a self-built concrete structure; the lower floor reportedly housed a store selling appliances and electrical goods.

An official probe into the cause of the fire has been launched, and local safety inspections are being accelerated- a move officials say was prompted in part by last month’s tragic blaze in Hong Kong.