Twelve people were killed and 17 injured Monday in a fire in a residential building in Urumqi, capital of China' s far-west Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, firefighters said.

The fire broke out about 2:28 p.m. in a two-story building with a one-floor basement on Hebei Street, and was put out about 30 minutes later, said the regional fire department.

The victims include seven men and four women, while one body has not yet been identified, Xinhua reporters learned at the site.

Another 17 people suffered from slight injuries and were transported to a local hospital for treatment.

The building was owned by a man, surnamed Hai, who leased the first floor and the basement to migrants working at nearby construction sites or in a decoration business, said a migrant worker from Sichuan Province who survived the fire, though his hair was burned.

"More than 60 people lived in the crowded building and many were from Sichuan, Chongqing and Gansu regions, " he said.

"We were napping on the first floor when we felt hot and heard people shouting and crying in the hallway. When we opened the door, a heat wave rushed to my face from the basement. It suddenly occurred to me that it was fire, so we ran for our lives ," he said.

Many of the migrant workers living in the building usually nap at noon prior to their afternoon work, he said.

Fire department officials told Xinhua that the cause of the fire was still being investigated.

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