A fire and subsequent stampede at a club in southern China killed 43 people and left 88 injured, state media said Sunday, in the latest incident highlighting China’s absysmal fire safety record.
The blaze late Saturday at the Dance King nightclub in the city of Shenzhen, near the border with Hong Kong, was caused by a fire works stunt that went wrong, witnesses and state media reports said.
There were hundreds of people crammed into the club when the fire started, triggering a stampede because there were not enough exits for everyone to escape quickly. ” The performer was shooting a gun, trying to shoot off some fire-works. He was aiming at the ceiling but a piece of cloth caught fire,” Witness Liu Caihong, 31. told AFP outside the club.” Everybody started running out”
Liu, who had numerous cuts on her body, said she still had no news of her younger brother and 18 friendsw who attended the performance with her on the third floor of the club.
Thirteen people have been detained over the fire, the state Xiphua news agency said, but it gave no information on possible changes.