Schools in cities and counties across C.China’s Henan Province launch inspections on fire hazards after school dormitory fire claims 13 lives

This photo taken on Jan 20, 2024 shows the fire site at the Yingcai School in Dushu Town, Fangcheng County, Nanyang City, central China's Henan Province. A work team was sent to central China's Henan Province during the night to guide rescue and follow-up work after a school dormitory fire on Friday night, the Ministry of Emergency Management said on Saturday. Photo: Xinhua

The city of Nanyang in central China’s Henan Province urged an all-out effort in a swift investigation into the cause of a fire at a local school dormitory that claimed 13 lives and injured one on Friday, while all the schools in the cities and counties across the province launched fire hazard inspections. Multiple places also have urgently deployed campus firefighting work, with some requiring the removal of anti-theft nets that obstruct escape routes.

A tragic fire accident at a Yingcai School dormitory in Yanshanpu village, Dushu township, in Fangcheng county, Nanyang at 11 pm on Friday resulted in 13 fatalities and one person injured.

After the accident, the city’s authorities rushed to the scene overnight, strengthened coordination, organized rescue efforts, and carried out post-incident work effectively.

A follow-up teleconference on workplace safety held on Saturday urged all-out efforts in promptly treating the injured, conducting a swift investigation into the cause of the incident and lawfully pursuing the relevant parties’ legal liabilities, noting that a lesson should be drawn from the incident and a campaign on security checks and rectifications should be carried out.

The teleconference emphasized that all the departments at all levels and the Party members as well as the government officials should draw a lesson from the incident, strengthen their risk awareness and strictly control major risks to firmly stick to the principle of keeping no casualties and no major social impact.

The authorities urged prompt treatment to the injured and to handle the post-accident issues including pacifying the relatives of the casualties, compensating them and offering them assistance. The authorities also urged a swift probe into the cause of the accident and to awfully pursue the legal liabilities of those who will be held accountable for the incident.

The authorities also stressed to intensify management, carry out screening in the key areas, promote security awareness and improve skills to avoid risks and disasters.

On Saturday, a provincial security work teleconference on fire-fighting was held in Zhengzhou to urge a screening on the fire disaster hazard carried out at the schools in the cities and counties in the province, to specify the preventive measures and stick to the bottle line of security.

Wang Kai, governor of the Henan Province, stressed at the teleconference to promptly carry out a special rectification of fire-fighting safety in the field of education, finding the loopholes in the campus environment and the management and system of the schools, strengthening the safety education and emergency drills on campus and improve the campus safety preventive capacities.

After the incident, multiple places across the country promptly deployed the firefighting security work at campus in localities with some requiring to remove the anti-theft nets that obstruct escape.

In Luohe city, Henan, a thorough screening was ordered to be carried out in densely populated venues such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, shopping malls, hotels and dormitories to rectify hidden risks of fire disasters.

In Yichun city, east China’s Jiangxi Province, all the anti-theft nets and decorations that hinder fire escape routes were ordered to be removed as soon as possible. Besides, patrol at school dormitories at night were ordered to be implemented strictly to assure students’ safety.

The local education authority in Panjin city, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, ordered strict inspection on the illegal use of electric devices at school dormitories and other fire hazards.