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Fire engulfs Shanghai building
Deadly blaze breaks out in 30-storey building in Shanghai, as witnesses report people leaping from windows to escape.
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2010 10:22 GMT
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The fire is believed to have broken out in the scaffolding and then spread to the main building. [AFP] A huge fire has broken out in a Shanghai building, killing at least five people and sending plumes of black smoke billowing across the city.The 30-storey building was being renovated when it caught fire about 2pm local time (0600GMT), Chinese state media said, quoting witnessess who said they had seen people jumping from the windows of the blazing building.
More than 10 fire engines were at the scene trying to bring the fire under control, Xinhua news agency reported.
The cause of the blaze is unclear, but construction scaffolding around the building caught fire first, and flames then spread to the main building, which has about 500 apartments.
Xinmin.cn, a government-run web portal, said that at least five people had died in the blaze. Shanghai firefighters were unable to confirm the figures.
Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan, reporting from Shanghai, said that the fire had affected only part of the building. "Its far from being completely engulfed," she said. "There are still people waiting to be rescued."
She was unable to confirm reports of people leaping from the building's windows. "State media are reporting that, but we have no photographic evidence of it. There are a lot of bystanders in Shanghai looking at the fire right now."
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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