Two killed in fire at Shanghai Hongqiao airport
Five others also injured in blaze at construction site at Hongqiao terminal
Two people died and five others were injured in a fire at a construction site at Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai on Friday morning, a news website reported.
The blaze started among decorating materials at the site in an underground area under renovation at the airport’s Terminal One at about 7 am, Xinmin.cn said.
Heavy smoke was seen the site and over 10 ambulances were sent to the scene, the report said.
Two people were declared dead after they were taken to a hospital, according to the article.
Two others were seriously injured, according to a statement on the airport’s social media account.
The municipal firefighting department said earlier they had put out the blaze, which started in heat insulating materials and burned about 100 square metres at the site.
It took a longer time for the smoke to fade as the blaze occurred underground, the fire service was quoted as saying.
Media reports suggested the fire involved workers at the site and that passengers were not injured.
The blaze has attracted comments online in China.
One person wrote that the authorities in Shanghai should make greater efforts to improve the safety and working environment for construction workers, who are often migrants from poorer provinces.
Another said that the fire had paralysed traffic in the area.
