China investigators suspect construction work caused fire that killed 16 people in shopping mall

BEIJING -- Chinese investigators suspect construction work sparked a fire that caused 16 deaths in a shopping mall in the southwestern city of Zigong. The fire broke out Wednesday evening and took almost 10 hours to extinguish, state media reported.

The 14-story commercial building was evacuated, with 75 people led to safety, according to the official news agency Xinhua. The building houses a department store, offices, restaurants and a movie theater. Social media video posts showed clouds of thick black smoke coming out of windows on the building’s lower levels.

Local media said firefighters used several drones to combat the flames.

Fire hazards remain a problem in China, which reported 947 fire fatalities up to late May, up 19% from those reported by the same time last year, according to Li Wanfeng, a spokesperson for the National Fire and Rescue Administration.

Li said the number of fires in public places such as hotels and restaurants rose 40% over that period, and that the most common causes were leaking gas lines and a failure to follow safety procedures.

In January, a fire killed 39 people in a commercial building in the southeastern Chinese province of Jiangxi, caused by unauthorized welding in the basement. In February, another 15 people were killed in a residential building in the eastern city of Nanjing,

In Zigong, resident Li Wanyu was shopping at an underground grocery store inside the building when the fire broke out. Shoppers were quickly evacuated after flames were seen on the ceiling.

“At first I thought it was a drill when staff organized the evacuation,” she told the AP. “I didn’t immediately realize what was going on. I wasn’t scared but confused. I ran out with everyone.”

Li said the mall, which faces Zigong’s city government building, was the busiest in the city when she was a kid, but is no longer popular.

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Associated Press video producer Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.