Beijing: At least 38 people were killed and six others injured in a fire at a rest home for senior citizens in central China’s Henan Province, officials said today. The inferno at the privately-owned Kangleyuan Rest Home in Lushan County, Pingdingshan City started last evening, according to a statement issued by the provincial publicity office. The six injured, two of whom were seriously wounded, have been hospitalised, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The blaze swept through the complex, which is home to 51 senior citizens. It was put out at around 8:22 pm.
The cause of the fire remains unclear so far, the report said, adding that rescue efforts were still underway. Survivor Zhao Yulan, 82, said she was rescued from her room, which she shared with 11 other people. “Only myself and one other roommate managed to get out,” she said. Relatives of some of the home’s residents told Xinhua that the identification of their family members was very difficult. The bodies were so badly burned, we couldn’t tell who was who,” one of them said. The rest home project was approved by the local civil affairs authorities in late 2010. Located in the county seat of Lushan, it covers an area of two hectares and has a floor space of 600 square metres.
Chinese President Xi Jinping directed rescue personnel to urgently aid the injured and victims’ families and determine the cause of the fire as well as who was responsible, according to state broadcaster CCTV. China is facing grave challenges in caring for its rapidly greying population, which accounted for 15.5 per cent of the population by the end of 2014. One in four Chinese will be older than 60 by 2030, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The country has witnessed similar accidents in the past. In February, at least 17 people were killed in a major fire triggered by a nine-year-old boy who was playing with a lighter at a multi-storey wholesale market. In a January incident, a major fire destroyed 21 houses in an ancient ethnic village in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, rendering 130 people homeless. Meanwhile, in an incident just last month, China evacuated around 30,000 people living near a controversial blast-hit chemical plant as fire continued to rage for over three days.
