OpinionFew lessons learned from Shanghai blaze disaster
Two years on from inferno that claimed at least 58 lives, victims and their families still seek answers while fire safety seems a low priority
Almost two years have passed since Shanghai's worst fire in six decades. The inferno claimed at least 58 lives, but authorities do not seem to have learned any lessons from the disaster.
Little has changed for residents of the city when it comes to fire safety. Most have never taken part in fire drills and few know much about prevention or how to escape the flames.
Meanwhile, only 40 of the 170 families who lived in the high-rise building engulfed by the blaze have signed compensation agreements with the municipal government and the authorities have refused to publish the full fire investigation report.
The 28-storey apartment building in the city's Jingan district caught fire after welders accidentally ignited flammable insulation material being retrofitted to the tower's exterior.
The authorities say the fire, which lasted about five hours, left 58 people dead and 71 injured, but there is widespread suspicion that the real toll was higher.
The fire remains a scar on Shanghai's self-proclaimed image as the mainland's most advanced and sophisticated metropolis.