SHENZHEN, China (AFP) — A fire and subsequent stampede at a club in southern China killed 43 people and left 88 injured, state media said Sunday, in the latest incident highlighting China's abysmal fire safety record.
Witnesses and state media reports said the blaze late Saturday at the Dance King nightclub in the city of Shenzhen, near the border with Hong Kong, was caused by a fireworks stunt gone wrong.
Hundreds of people crammed into the club then were apparently forced to try to escape the venue through a narrow passageway, triggering a stampede, state media said.
"The performer was shooting a gun, trying to shoot off some fireworks. He was aiming at the ceiling but a piece of cloth caught fire," witness Liu Caihong, 31, told AFP outside the club.
"Everybody started running out."
Liu, who had numerous cuts on her body, said she still had no news of her younger brother and 18 friends who attended the performance with her on the third floor of the club.
Dozens of police officers had cordoned off the scene Sunday.
Neon lights on the club's facade had fallen down, while windows in adjacent buildings had shattered.
"According to a preliminary investigation, the accident was caused when fireworks were set off in the song and dance hall, triggering a fire," the official China News Service said, quoting an initial investigation.
Frightened clubgoers then were trapped in a narrow passageway, unable to exit, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
"There was only a narrow aisle... in the hall. Many people got hurt in the stampede," club staffer Yang Zhi was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
Yang doused his clothes in water before fleeing but still suffered burns on his neck, it said.
Of those injured, 51 were in hospital in stable condition, Xinhua said.
Fu Maoxia, 56, came from Sichuan province with his wife to attend the show at the club. He told AFP at a local hospital that he presumed his wife was dead, as she had not been in touch with him.
"We were lucky enough to have escaped the Sichuan earthquake, but not lucky enough to escape this," he said.
Fu, who suffered minor injuries, was treated and released, but was still roaming the hospital hallways, trying to get information about his wife.
AFP could not reach relevant police, fire and government officials by phone for comment.
Police at the scene declined comment and prevented witnesses from talking to journalists.
Photos posted on the popular Chinese online portal Sohu showed apparently grieving relatives gathered outside the club during the night.
In an indication authorities feared public anger over the fire, Guangdong province Communist Party Secretary Wang Yang ordered that victims' families be "appeased" and "social stability" maintained, the China News Service said.
Wang also ordered authorities to quickly find those responsible for the tragedy and step up efforts to treat the injured.
Deadly fires are common in China due to the routine flouting or ignorance of fire and safety measures.
The government said earlier this year that 159,000 fires broke out in China in 2007, killing 1,418 people, injuring 863 others, and causing direct economic losses totalling 990 million yuan (145 million dollars).
However, the toll could actually be higher as local officials in China are notorious for covering up deadly accidents to avoid punishment.
The total did not include forest or grass fires or blazes in the country's deadly mines.
In 2000, 311 people died in a disco fire in the central city of Luoyang.
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