Eight people were killed and 15 injured in a fire at a vegetable market in northern China, local authorities reported.
“The injured have been sent to hospital for treatment and their lives are not currently in danger,” the Qiaoxi District People’s Government said after the fire broke out in the city of Zhangjiakou, northwest of Beijing.
The fire at Ligwang Market broke out at 8:40 a.m. (0040 GMT) and was put out after 10 a.m., the district government said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
A market in the city’s Qiaoxi district was engulfed in thick clouds of smoke, with large flames shown in videos posted by other media on China’s Weibo microblogging site.
Identified in some media as Liguang Vegetable Market, it opened in 2011 and sells items ranging from fruit and seafood to electronics, said Kechacha, the company’s data provider.
Fatal fires are relatively common in China due to lax building codes and often lax workplace safety.
A fire in the major city of Chengdu in October left 24 people hospitalized with breathing problems, state media reported.
In July, 16 people were killed in a fire at a shopping center in the southwestern city of Zigong.