BEIJING – A fire at a school dormitory in central China killed 13 pupils and injured one person, the Chinese state media reported on Jan 20.

The dead were third-graders at an elementary school, according to China Newsweek, a weekly magazine published by China News Service, the second-largest Chinese news agency after Xinhua. Third-graders in China are usually nine years old.

The blaze at Yingcai School in Henan’s Yanshanpu village was reported to the local fire department at 11pm on Jan 19, Xinhua said.

“Rescuers arrived at the scene quickly and the flames were extinguished at 11.38pm,” it added.

The injured survivor “is currently receiving treatment at the hospital and is in stable condition”, said the news agency.

The local authorities are investigating the fire’s cause, and the head of the school has been detained, Xinhua said.

Yanshanpu village lies on the outskirts of Nanyang, a city of nearly 10 million.

Little information about the boarding school is publicly available, though social media videos published earlier showed young children, including kindergarteners, wearing smocks with the school’s logo, and older children learning calligraphy.

Chinese social media users expressed outrage over the fire and called for any safety lapses to be punished.

“It’s too scary, 13 children from 13 families, all gone in an instant... If there is no severe punishment, their souls will not rest in peace,” wrote one commenter on microblogging website Weibo.

Fires and other deadly accidents are common in China owing to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.

In November 2023, 26 people died and dozens were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a coal company office in northern China’s Shanxi province.

In July 2023, 11 people died after the roof of a school gym collapsed in the country’s north-east.

In June the same year, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in north-western China left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.

And in April, a hospital fire in Beijing killed 29 people and forced people who were desperately fleeing it to jump out of windows to escape.

After the coal company fire in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the country to “conduct in-depth investigations of hidden risks in key industries and improve emergency plans and prevention measures”. AFP, REUTERS