A fire at a Chinese shoe factory in the southeastern city of Jinjiang, Fujian, left at least 28 dead on Thursday, Chinese outlets reported.
According to the testimonies of local firemen, the fire may have rapidly spread due to highly flammable shoe-making materials stored in the building’s lower levels, raising concerns about the safety conditions at Chinese manufacturing buildings.
The state-run Xinhua news service reported that a fire broke out at the Huiteng Shoes Co. factory on Thursday around noon (local time). At total of 237 factory workers and two external delivery personnel were inside the facility at the time of the accident, per the news agency.
Of the total, Xinhua detailed, 213 were evacuated and 26 were reported dead — two of the evacuees reportedly died from their injuries after being admitted to a local hospital. The state-run news service claimed that “500” firefighters joined the rescue efforts at the burning shoe factory.
Footage published by the China Global Television Network (CGTN) shows people trapped on the roof of the five-floor factory building while firemen attempted to put out fires on the lower floors.
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The BBC reported that early indications suggested the fire may have started on the factory’s ground floor, which housed flammable materials. Both Xinhua and the BBC noted that Chinese police officers detained the shoe factory’s owner and several other individuals related to the company. Chinese authorities also froze the factory’s bank accounts.
According to Xinhua, Chinese communist dictator Xi Jinping called for efforts to identify the cause of the fire and “hold those responsible strictly accountable.”
“Noting that multiple major workplace safety accidents have occurred in the country since the beginning of this year, Xi required all regions and relevant departments to draw profound lessons from these accidents, better coordinate development and security, and remain constantly vigilant about workplace safety,” a press note published by Xinhua read in part.
“Efforts must be made to thoroughly identify and root out all types of safety risks and hidden hazards, ensure that workplace safety measures are implemented meticulously, resolutely prevent major and serious accidents, and effectively safeguard people’s lives and property,” the text continued.
For years, the city of Jinjiang, where the deadly fire took place on Thursday, has been described as the “shoe capital” of China. The rapid expansion of the city’s workshops into an export hub has reportedly led to as many as a fifth of all athletic shoes being manufactured in the city, more than a billion shoes per year. It is reportedly estimated that there are “thousands” of shoe factories in Jinjiang.
At the same time, the rapid expansion of the city’s shoe industries has led to questions and concerns over workplace safety conditions — or lack thereof.
The Hong Kong Free Press reported that the city’s fire chief, Du Zhenzhou, told state media that firemen struggled to reach the upper levels of the building because there was shoe sole material piled up in stairways, which hindered firefighters’ efforts to reach the flames inside the building. Du reportedly said that adhesives and other raw materials used in the manufacturing of shoes had fueled the fire.
The outlet noted that China launched a campaign against “fire hazards in high-rise buildings” in November after a fire at a Hong Kong apartment building that was not in compliance with fire safety codes left 168 dead. In May an explosion at a fireworks factory in Liuyang left 37 dead.
Despite the safety concerns raised about Jinjiang’s factory buildings, Xi Jinping has personally praised the rapid manufacturing boom and the birth of several Chinese sportswear brands in the city as the “Jinjiang Experience,” which the Chinese regime considers as a “model” for the Asian nation’s growth as a world manufacturing power. Xi served as Governor of the Fujian Province, where Jinjiang is located, between 1999 and 2002.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.