Beijing: At least 18 people were killed and 16 injured Friday after a fire broke out in one of the largest martial arts school in China with hundreds of teachers and tens of thousands of students.
The martial arts school, Henan is the birthplace of traditional Chinese martial arts, and is home to many kung fu academies.
Local media reported that most of the victims were boarding pupils aged between 7 and 16.
Major Chinese news outlets reported that there were 34 boarding students on the premises when the fire broke out.
Rescue teams reached the spot after getting information and rushed the injured to a nearby hospital.
However, the fire had been extinguished and authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze.
In addition, the manager of the institute has been taken into custody.
Social media users started to call for better fire safety standards online as a hashtag for the fire quickly garnered over 1.5 million views.
Earlier in 2017, more than two dozen people were killed in two blazes in Beijing’s migrant neighbourhoods.
A huge blaze swept a 28-storey Shanghai residential block in 2010 and killed 58 people.
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