Dropped cigarette butt causes Jilin fire, suspect detained

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Dropped cigarette butt causes Jilin fire, suspect detained

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The investigation team announced Wednesday that a cigarette butt dropped by a storehouse keeper caused the deadly fire that claimed 53 lives and injured some 70 people in northeastern Jilin province and local police hasdetained the criminal suspect.

Technical experts sent by the State Council, China's cabinet, confirmed the fire had been caused by a thrown away cigarette, which ignited the inflammable goods on the shopping mall's simple no. 3 storehouse.

The suspect man Yu Hongxin, 35, has been detained by local police for further interrogation.

The deadly blaze in Jilin city started at 11:20 a.m. Sunday onthe second floor of the Zhongbai Shopping Mall, where crowds of people were doing weekend shopping, leaving 53 people dead and 68 others injured.

Built in the 1990s, the four-story building at the downtown crossroads of two major streets accommodated a total of 111 shops with about 120 shopkeepers within an area of 4,000 square meters. Its first and second floors were set for shopping, the third was abathhouse, and the fourth a games hall and a disco.

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