BEIJING, July 9 (Reuters) – A fire at a shoe factory in southeastern China left casualties on Thursday, state broadcaster CCTV reported, as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze and rescue people trapped inside.
The fire broke out at around noon (0400 GMT) on Thursday in the city of Jinjiang in Fujian province, with some people trapped on the rooftop, CCTV said. It was not immediately clear how many have been killed or injured.
Videos released by CCTV showed flames engulfing the multi-storey factory and thick black smoke billowing into the sky. Several people, apparently trapped by the blaze, could be seen on the rooftop as smoke swirled around them.
Firefighting efforts were still underway, although open flames had largely been extinguished by about 5:40 p.m. (0940 GMT), a local firefighting official told CCTV. Fire and rescue teams dispatched 183 people and 35 vehicles to the site.
Preliminary findings indicate the fire started on the ground floor of the factory, a local official told CCTV. Shoe-making materials stored in the building were highly flammable and could cause a blaze to spread rapidly, the official said.
Due to the materials and adhesives present, the smell at the scene was quite pungent, causing eye irritation, CCTV said.
Jinjiang, in the coastal Fujian province, is a major footwear and apparel manufacturing hub and is often referred to as China’s “shoe capital”.
The thousands of companies in the city made over 1.2 billion pairs of shoes in 2024, accounting for 20% of global output, according to official data.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Ryan Woo and Ros Russell)
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