At least 12 people were killed after a fire swept through a residential building in Shantou, Guangdong province, marking mainland China’s most serious blaze since last month’s catastrophic Hong Kong inferno, Chinese media reported. The fire broke out around 9.20 pm (local time) and was extinguished within about 40 minutes, as per the state news agency Xinhua.Local authorities said the blaze affected roughly 150 square metres of the four-storey reinforced concrete building, located in the manufacturing-heavy Chaonan district. The ground floor had been converted into a shop selling household appliances and electrical equipment, an arrangement common in the area, where many families run small businesses from self-built residences.
A woman told local media that she lost her parents, grandmother and younger brother in the fire, underscoring the human toll of yet another tragedy linked to unsafe residential setups. Officials confirmed the building was self-built, a category long flagged by fire departments across China for its lax standards, limited stair access, barred windows and lack of emergency exits. Poor or unofficial electrical wiring in such structures is also a frequent hazard.
response, the Guangdong provincial government has formed a multi-agency task force, involving police, emergency management authorities and disciplinary inspectors, to investigate the cause of the fire and examine potential safety lapses
The incident comes just weeks after Hong Kong’s devastating Tai Po blaze, the deadliest in the city in decades. That fire, which began on November 26 and raged for nearly 43 hours, killed 160 people, tore through seven high-rise buildings and left close to 5,000 residents homeless
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