The state owned Xinhua News Agency reports that there has been a large fire at the Baoyuan Poultry Processing Plant in the town of Dehui in Jilin Province, 500 miles northwest of the Chinese capital Beijing. According to the Xinhua the fire which burned out of control destroying the entire plant, started on Monday and started in one of the plant’s locker rooms.
Written by Chris White
The fire which has now been extinguished is said to have been the worst urban fire in China since 2000 when a fire broke out at a Dance Hall in Luoyang, Henan Province killing 309 people.
Xinhua were able to confirm that approximately 100 workers managed to escape the blaze even though survival efforts were hampered by the “complicated interior structure”, featuring excessively narrow corridors and few fire exits.
Analysts also criticised the plant’s management for locking the gates to the plant’s compound even as the plant was open for business.
Workers who were interviewed after the event said that fire broke out during a shift change at approximately 6am (10pm GMT) and caused the lights to turn off, which then sparked a panicked and disorderly rush towards the exists thereby endangering safety.
One Chinese eye-witness told reporters: “When I finally ran out and looked back at the plant, I saw high flames.”
It is not yet determined how the fire started, but officials say that the fire was likely caused by either an ammonia spillage or a spark plug accident.
Work place safety standards are often low in China, with corruption and the demand for profits placing huge emphasis on a need to streamline efficiency by sacrificing worker health and safety.
The Chinese company which owns the plant, ‘Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co’ employs approximately 1,200 workers and produces about 67,000 tonnes of chicken products per year.
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