10 killed, 9 injured in apartment fire in northwest China's Xinjiang province

Beijing: At least 10 people were killed and nine others injured in a fire at a high-rise residential building in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, days after another blaze left 38 people dead in central China.

The fire broke out on Thursday night at a residential building in the community of Tianshan District in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province.

The blaze was put out in about three hours, officials said. Ten people died despite emergency treatment.

The injuries sustained by 9 others are not life-threatening, officials said.

Preliminary investigations suggested an electric socket extension in a bedroom caused the fire, state-run CGTN TV reported.

Earlier this week, a massive fire broke out at a cloth manufacturing plant in central China’s Henan province which killed 38 people and injured two others.

Preliminary investigation revealed that sparks during welding operations caused the fire, igniting cotton fabric in the factory.

In August 2015, over 170 people were killed and 700 injured when blasts ripped through a warehouse in Tianjin Port where large amounts of toxic chemicals were stored, including around 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide.

China suffers frequent deadly fires and industrial accidents which are often the result of negligence.