16 people have been killed and at least three more injured in a fire that broke out in a farmers’ fruit market in the south of the city of Shenzhen, in China’s Guangdong province, the BBC reports.
The fire started in the early hours of Wednesday 11 December, at approximately 1:30am local time, at the Rongjian Farmers’ Market in the city’s Gongming District.
It took two hours to extinguish, by which time it had spread to an area of approximately 1,000m².
145 firefighters were involved in putting out the flames, with 29 fire engines deployed.
Search and rescue operations, as well as a clean-up effort, were still underway at 8am local time.
As a result, the market was closed on Wednesday morning, as well as the main road near the market.
Chinese authorities have pledged to discover the cause of the blaze.
