Fierce blaze at China shopping mall kills at least 8 people

A blaze struck a shopping centre in China which claimed at least eight lives while the emergency workers in Zigong city rescued 30 others, a state broadcaster reported on Wednesday.

The fierce fire incident prompted a large-scale search and rescue operation at the shopping mall to rescue people who remained trapped inside the 14-storey building.

Images and videos on social media platforms showed a huge column of black smoke billowing from the shopping mall.

According to the state media CCTV, the fire broke out in a shopping centre in Zigong, a city in China's western province of Sichuan, at around 6pm local time (6 am ET) today.

Some reports suggested that the fire had been put out and rescue efforts were underway. However, it was unclear how many people were still trapped.

The local fire department dispatched nearly 300 emergency workers and dozens of vehicles to the scene. The fire was doused at 8:20pm local time.

This is another major fire incident in China this year as at least 39 people lost their lives and nine others were wounded after a blaze broke out in the basement of shops in Xinyu city of China's Jiangxi province in January.

In the same month, a fierce blaze at a dormitory in a boarding school — Yingcai School in Henan province’s Yanshanpu village — claimed the lives of 13 students before the firefighters managed to extinguish the fire.