A shoe factory fire that killed 28 highlights China’s persisting worker safety risks
BEIJING: Authorities were investigating a blaze at a shoe factory in southeastern China’s Fujian province that killed 28 people, raising renewed concern over worker safety.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said Friday that a search had ended while an investigation was underway into the cause of the fire Thursday that gutted the Fujian Huiteng factory in Jinjiang, a manufacturing hub for sports shoes.
According to product listings on online sales and import platforms, Fujian Huiteng makes shoes for both Chinese and foreign brands.
Local media footage showed people trapped on the roof of the five-floor building, enveloped in thick black smoke, while the spray from fire truck hoses fell short of flames showing through windows on its upper floors. Xinhua said the factory’s owner and managers were arrested and the company’s accounts were frozen.
