Major fire broke out in a high-rise telecom building in the central city of Changsha, China
Major fire engulfs skyscraper in Changsha, central China
WATCH: Dramatic videos of fire engulfing 42-storey building in Chinas Changsha city
Changsha: A fire engulfed a skyscraper in the central Chinese city of Changsha on Friday, with authorities saying no casualties had yet been reported.
The fire broke out in the 42-story building that houses the office of state-owned telecommunications company China Telecom, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
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“Thick smoke billowed from the site and dozens of floors were burning furiously,” CCTV said.
The provincial fire brigade later said in a post on social media that “the fire is currently extinguished and we have not yet discovered any casualties”.
The first photo released by CCTV showed orange flames burning through a building in a built-up area of the city as black smoke billowed into the sky.
A later image shared on social media appeared to show the flames extinguished as rescuers sprayed jets of water onto its charred facade.
China Telecom said in a statement on social media: “The fire at our No. 2 communication tower in Changsha was extinguished at around 4:30 p.m. today.
“No casualties have yet been discovered and communications have not been disrupted.”
Video shared on social media appeared to show dozens of people fleeing the building as burning debris fell from the upper floors.
AFP was not immediately able to verify the footage.
Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, has a population of about 10 million people.
The 218-metre (715 ft) building was completed in 2000 and is located near a major ring road, according to CCTV.
Deadly fires are common in China, where lax enforcement of building codes and rampant unauthorized construction can make it difficult for people to escape from burning buildings.
In July last year, a warehouse fire in the northeastern province of Jilin killed at least 15 people and injured at least 25, according to state media reports.
A month earlier, a fire killed 18 people – mostly children – at a martial arts school in central Henan province, sparking an uproar over fire safety standards.
Another two dozen people died in two fires in Beijing’s migrant neighborhoods in 2017, while 58 died when a huge fire tore through a 28-story housing estate in Shanghai in 2010.
A large fire broke out in a high-rise office building in the central Chinese city of Changsha.
Horrifying footage shows a 42-storey skyscraper engulfed in flames.
Thick dark smoke can be seen billowing into the sky, sometimes completely hiding the China Telecom tower.
The fire appears to have spread to all floors and reached the top of the building.
A video shared on Twitter shows office workers descending the stairs and then running away from the inferno.
The high-rise was “burning with great intensity,” Channel News Asia reported, citing state broadcaster CCTV.
No casualties have been reported so far, according to Hunan’s fire department.
At least 36 fire engines and 280 firefighters were deployed to the scene on Friday afternoon local time.
It has been reported that the fire is now out and an investigation is underway to determine the cause.
“The open fire is currently extinguished and no casualties have been found,” the authorities said in a statement.
