Dozens killed in shoe factory fire in China

At least 28 people were killed in a fire at a shoe factory in eastern China on Thursday.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management announced that some 200 fire and rescue workers had been dispatched to a shoe factory in Fujian province on Thursday.

President Xi Jinping has called for "an all-out search and rescue effort" and a swift investigation in order to "strictly hold those responsible accountable."

Dozens of fire trucks were seen dumping water on the burnt multi-story factory as smoke continued to billow from the site.

"Simultaneously, the cause of the fire must be investigated, lessons learned, and effective measures taken to prevent similar accidents from recurring," the ministry said in a statement.

Spate of deadly fires

Beijing launched a renewed campaign to bring high-rise buildings and factories in line with fire codes in November after 168 people were killed in Hong Kong where several tower blocks went up in flames.

A month later, a residential building in Guangdong province killed 12 people.

Work safety has been a persistent problem in China. In May, an explosion at a fireworks plant in the city of Changsha in central Hunan Province killed at least 37 people.

In 2024, a fire at a refrigeration facility under construction killed 39 people in the city of Xinyu in the southeastern Jiangxi Province.

Authorities have repeatedly ordered businesses to screen for workplace hazards. Official data show 18,261 people died in nearly 20,000 workplace accidents across the nation last year, down from the previous year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) demanded a swift investigation of the disaster and said authorities would “strictly hold those responsible accountable.”

Jinjiang has thousands of shoe factories and is considered the “shoe capital” of China, making about one-fifth of all athletic shoes, more than 1 billion a year, according to state media and industry reports.

The area’s transformation from small workshops and factories into an export industry hub, which Xi has often referred to as the “Jinjiang Experience,” is considered a model for China’s ascent as a world manufacturing power.

CCTV said the fire started on the first level of the concrete-structured building, where a workshop and a warehouse were located.

A local fire department official said in an interview with the state broadcaster that shoe sole material piled up in stairwells hindered firefighters from reaching the flames to extinguish them. The shoe materials were highly flammable, CCTV said.

CCTV also said the fire department sent 183 people and 35 vehicles to the factory and that open flames were extinguished after about four hours. Xinhua later said more than 500 people joined the rescue-and-search operation.