Zhang Qian, Qin Yue

    zhqcindy@163.com

    AN early morning fire inside a rental apartment in Bao’an District killed seven and severely injured four residents at around 2:45 a.m. yesterday, the Bao’an District Government said via its official Weibo account.

    Preliminary investigation showed that the fire was caused by an electric bike that had been charging.

    The fire happened on Anshan 4th Road at Ma’anshan community in Shajing Subdistrict. It was put out at about 3 a.m.

    Five people were killed at the scene while another one was killed in a stampede and the other died of a fall from the building during escape. Four residents who were injured by heavy smoke were sent to a nearby hospital for treatment and later transferred to Shenzhen No. 2 People’s Hospital in Futian District. The injured were in stable condition by 3 p.m. yesterday.

    The manager of the building has been in police custody.

    The Shajing Subdistrict Office said it has provided free accommodations for affected residents in nearby hotels.

    A resident named Wang Guoqiang who lived a block from the fire site bravely ran into the fire several times, rescuing four people who were trapped, the official Weibo said.

    Wang had stayed awake until 2 a.m. yesterday, and he heard loud noises and spotted the fire as he prepared to go to bed.

    Wang ran out of his building and saw a crowd of residents watching the fire.

    Following the shouts for help from the second floor of the building, Wang climbed the water pipe to the second floor.

    “There was heavy smoke everywhere that blocked me from going inside, so I had to smash the windows to get inside,” said Wang. With the help of other residents, Wang managed to save two women and a father with his daughter from the burning building.

    One of the injured persons, surnamed Ren who lived with her 23-year-old daughter on the second floor, told a Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reporter that the building was home to more than 300 residents and most of them were workers at a nearby electrical machinery plant. The manager of the building also lived in the building.

    She said a large number of electric bikes were usually parked on the first and second floors and the manager installed nearly 100 power plugs for the convenience of the bike owners.

    The city and Bao’an District governments have organized six working groups to deal with the aftermath. An operation to screen for fire hazards across the city will be carried out soon, according to a post-fire emergency meeting in Shajing.