A fire broke out in the Lingping district of Hangzhou at around 10am today (Thursday, June 9), forcing two people in buildings nearby to jump from the second and third floors to avoid the blaze.
It is speculated that the fire broke out in 冰雪大世界 (bingxue dashijie), an ice sculpture park, because of faulty or malfunctioning machinery. However, the official cause of the fire has not yet been established.
Fire and rescue services were quickly deployed to the area to put out the fire and carry out search and rescue operations.
Local news reported that, by 11.09am, seven people had been rescued from the blaze without injuries, while five others suffered burns to their skin.
One person is said to be being treated for damage caused by smoke inhalation.
The fire quickly spread to a market on nearby Yang Wang Lu, and an unnamed business owner told Qing Feng Xia (a local news company) that his daughter was one of the people who had to jump out of a building.
He went on to say, “The doctors are still unsure whether she has any other injuries but while she was on the way to the hospital, she seemed OK and was conscious.”
The man’s daughter has been transferred to a local hospital and is being treated for third-degree burns.
Footage circulating on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, show huge clouds of smoke spilling from buildings as people watch on.
Unofficial videos on WeChat have shown people lying on the ground injured with their clothes ripped from their bodies due to an explosion.
Explosions can be heard coming from the scene of the fire shortly after two people made the jump.
Two more individuals can be seen crouching outside of a window. It hasn't been reported whether they jumped or waited to be rescued.
冰雪大世界 has already changed its status on Dazhong Dianping, China’s version of Yelp, to indicate that business is temporarily suspended.
Hangzhou is roughly 160 kilometers away from Shanghai, China’s largest city in terms of population.
[Cover image via Weibo@ZEALER]
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