Five people were killed, including a Russian, in a hotel fire in
Jilin Province on Saturday night, an official confirmed
yesterday. Two others were injured.
The seven-story building was destroyed as were four cars
nearby.
The blaze started at about 7:40?PM at Xinqiao Hotel in
Yanji, a city in the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian. Three
employees of a Chinese power company and a man who worked in
Beijing were also killed, said Sui Qingjiang, a prefecture
official.
All five victims were men, said the official. Their bodies were
found after the fire was extinguished at midnight. Investigators
said one victim was Caucasian.
The hotel authorities later confirmed he was a Russian visiting
Yanji for medical treatment. He gave a Chinese name when he checked
in.
More than 40 guests were registered at the hotel, most of whom
were evacuated safely. A few escaped by jumping out a window. One
man badly injured his wrist after jumping from a sixth floor
window.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated. Some
witnesses said a neon billboard at the hotel's entrance might be
the cause.
(Shanghai Daily March 20, 2006)