Guangdong, China (BBN)-Seventeen people were killed when a fire broke out in a wholesale market in southern China, state media say.
The fourth floor of the building in Huidong county in Guangdong province was ablaze on Thursday afternoon, local government said.
It took about six hours for more than 200 firefighters to bring the fire under control, reports BBC.
China has a long history of workplace disasters and a poor record on worker safety.
Footage showed an excavator dismantling one wall of the building to allow trapped people to escape, Reuters news agency said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation, the Communist Party’s propaganda department in Huidong county said, and nine managers of the mall had been detained by police.
In June 2013, a fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in the north-eastern province of Jilin killed 120 people.
Poor management was blamed and reports said most of the exits had been blocked, leading to panic and a crush.
BBN/SS-6Feb15-12:00pm (BST)
