Shanghai: China ordered tighter fire prevention measures yesterday, following a blaze that gutted a high-rise apartment building in China's business capital, killing at least 53 people, with dozens believed still missing.
Relatives were still searching for their loved ones, while authorities have not given any figures for the number of missing from the fire in a downtown neighbourhood Monday afternoon.
Shanghai's fire chief, Chen Fei, said firefighters searched the 28-storey building thoroughly after the fire was put out and could not have missed anyone.
Sleepless night
"Sleepless night for victims, every minute caught between hope and despair," said a headline in Wednesday's edition of the local newspaper Oriental Morning Post.
As might be expected of a weekday afternoon, many of those in the building at the time of the fire were retirees. The Post ran pictures showing a list of 36 people still being sought after the fire, though there was no official confirmation of the information.
Police detained four unlicensed welders who were working on "energy-saving" renovations when sparks from their welding apparently spread to bamboo scaffolding and nylon nets shrouding the building.
The city's deputy police chief, Cheng Jiulong, said eight people had been detained, but did not identify them.
Chen, the fire chief, sought to deflect public outrage over the government's handling of the disaster, saying firefighters had done the best that could be expected given the height of the building and amount of flammable materials that caught fire.
"Fighting fires in high-rise residential buildings is different than for other buildings," he said. "Residential high-rises have more flammable materials and more sources for causing fires. They have metal security doors, so rescuing people can be very difficult."
20-plus million people
The fire has heightened concern over the ability to cope with such disasters in this city of 20-plus million people, many of them living in its 15,000 high rise buildings.
In a notice posted on its website, the Cabinet ordered authorities to improve fire safety and prevention, especially in the winter when widespread use of space heaters is an added risk.
It named construction sites and high-rise buildings as areas needing extra attention.
