China’s Jiangxi: 39 Dead and 9 Seriously Injured in Store Fire

At least 39 people died and nine suffered serious injuries Wednesday after a fire broke out at a store in the central Chinese province of Jiangxi, state media reported.

“At 3:24 pm (0724 GMT) on January 24, a fire broke out on the below-ground level at a store… in Xinyu, Jiangxi,” the country’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.

“Up until now, the accident has resulted in the death of 39 people, injuries to nine people, and others are still trapped,” state broadcaster CCTV reported just after 8:00 pm local time (1200 GMT).

Video footage released by CCTV showed several fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles lined up across the street from a row of businesses.

It was not immediately clear how many people were injured in the accident.

The incident comes just five days after a late-evening blaze at a school in central China’s Henan province killed 13.