Two people have been reported missing from Wednesday's
two-building fire that killed three firemen and injured
another.
The fire, which began in a 12-story market and office building,
spread to an adjacent 20-story hotel. Xinjiang Doowin Industrial
and Commercial Group Co., Ltd., owner of the market-office
building, has confirmed that two people, a man in his 30s and a
woman in her 20s, were missing.
Witnesses said the two missing, both of whom worked for the
planning department of the Doowin International Plaza -- the
market-office building -- were in their office when the fire broke
out on the first floor.
"Their families and colleagues have had no contact with them
since the fire occurred," said Gou Wei, spokesman with the Doowin
group.
Three firemen - Zhu Xiaolei, Zhang Yu and Gao Feng - were killed
in the blaze while searching for anyone who might have been trapped
in the fire.
Several thousands of local people gathered in a funeral hall on
Friday to pay homage to the three firemen.
The yard of the No. 2 fire-fighting team, where the funeral hall
was set up, was filled with numerous wreaths presented by vendors
from the market building, delegates of local business entities and
people from all walks of life. Many donated money to the family
members of the dead.
"We were deeply moved by the firemen who devoted their lives to
saving the people and our goods. I will remember them for the rest
of my life," said a middle-aged vendor, who only identified herself
as Zhang.
"We feel so sorry about their death, we want to show our respect
to them," said Guan Jun, a taxi driver, who presented a wreath
along with her wife and son to the deceased.
Top managers with the Doowin group, including president Qian
Jinnai, have been requested to remain in Urumqi for an
investigation, and the property and accounts of Doowin
International Plaza, a subsidiary of the Doowin group and the
building where the blaze began, have been frozen, according to
local police.
The blaze began in a mop vendor's stall at 8:20 p.m. on
Wednesday in the plaza, which is in downtown Urumqi, capital of the
northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
A security guard who had worked in the building said that
firemen had arrived at the scene within 15 minutes but were unable
to prevent the blaze from spreading to the hotel.
Nearly 1,200 firemen took more than 22 hours to extinguish the
blaze, which was finally put out on Thursday night. Six people were
rescued.
Opened in 2003, the Doowin International Plaza was a wholesale
market that housed about 2,000 vendors of clothing, toys and
household supplies. It had a total area of about 100,000 square
meters. It is also where the headquarters of the Doowin Group were
located.
"We suffered great losses in the fire, even losing most of the
Doowin Group's files, but we will try our best to cooperate with
the police for the investigation, "said Gou Wei.
According to the city's fire control department, most of the
goods in the market were destroyed in the fire.
Although the costs have yet to be calculated, media reports said
the total losses might be several hundred million yuan, as the
vendors had stocked up for a busy shopping period in upcoming Lunar
New Year, which falls in early February.
The Doowin Group has set up a temporary office to help vendors
who have suffered huge economic losses to resume business in a
subsidiary hotel.
Despite bitter weather, with temperatures falling to minus 20
degrees Celsius, most of the vendors stayed near the market
overnight, waiting for the fire to be put out.
"What shall I do? All my goods must have been burned," said a
clothes vendor surnamed Li.
Li had three storehouses and five booths in the plaza with goods
she said were worth more than 5 million yuan.
According to Li, among her friends who also had booths in the
plaza, losses ran from some 300,000 yuan to more than 6 million
yuan.
The Doowin Group said in a statement on Friday that the fire
control facilities of the Doowin International Plaza, the
market-office building, and the Doowin Grand Hotel had both passed
inspections by the city's fire control department
The group had spent more than 10 million yuan to install a
"self-contained" fire control system, such as fire detectors,
extinguishers and hydrants, in the plaza and the hotel and it had
also provided regular fire control training to the vendors, said
the statement.
However, Dai Yiqiang, deputy director of the Urumqi fire control
bureau, said the fire control facilities in the plaza and hotel
were "utterly inadequate" to deal with a major blaze.
The city government has set up a task force to investigate the
fire and deal with the aftermath, said vice mayor Zhang Hong. The
government would also demolish the building and launch a city-wide
safety inspection of public facilities such as shopping malls,
markets, hotels, theaters and Internet cafes.
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2008)