Thirteen schoolchildren died in a fire in a dormitory at a boarding school in Henan province, in central China, according to the official Xinhua news agency. “At 11 p.m. on Friday, the local fire department received an alert about a fire in the Yingcai School dormitory in Yanshanpu village,” state media reported. The village of Yanshanpu is located on the outskirts of Nanyang, a city of almost 10 million inhabitants.
A teacher told the Hebei Daily, a local newspaper, that all the victims were schoolchildren from the same primary school class, aged 9 to 10 years old. An injured schoolboy is “treated in hospital and is in stable condition,” Xinhua news agency said. “Rescue arrived quickly on the scene and the flames were extinguished at 11:38 p.m.,” explained the official agency.
An open investigation
Local authorities have opened an investigation to determine the causes of the fire, state media reported, adding that at least one person linked to the school had been arrested. China National Radio said some windows in the school dormitory had been broken and published photos showing police cordoning off a nearby area.
Little information is available about the boarding school, but videos posted on social media before the fire showed young children – including kindergarten students – wearing blouses with the establishment’s emblem, or learning calligraphy. On Chinese social networks, Internet users expressed their anger, calling on the authorities to apply sanctions in the event of non-compliance with safety standards.