Fire at a shoe factory kills 28 in one of China's deadliest blazes in
recent years
[July 10, 2026]
BEIJING (AP) — A fire broke out at a shoe factory in the
southeastern Chinese province of Fujian on Thursday, killing 28 people,
the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping demanded “an all-out search and rescue
effort," urging a swift investigation of the incident and “strictly hold
those responsible accountable.”
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In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, firefighters at the scene
of a footwear factory fire in Jiangtou village, Chendai township of
Jinjiang city, southeastern China's Fujian province, Thursday, July 9,
2026. (Zheng Liang/Xinhua via AP) |
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The blaze started in a factory at Huiteng shoe company in the
city of Jinjiang, the city’s fire department said in a
statement. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Jinjiang is a major manufacturing hub for sports shoes.
There were 237 factory workers and two visitors in the building
when the fire broke out. Authorities pulled out 213 people, two
of whom were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.
Another 26 missing people were later confirmed dead, according
to the state broadcaster CCTV.
Xinhua said the factory’s owner and others in charge have been
taken into custody and the company’s accounts have been frozen.
Video by CCTV shows the facade of a building of several floors
charred black and covered in white smoke. Earlier footage shows
fires were burning on multiple floors and the building shrouded
in thick, black smoke.
The fire started on the first level of a five-floor
concrete-structured building, where a workshop and a warehouse
were located. The burning materials included shoe components,
which are highly flammable and helped the fire spread quickly,
according to CCTV.
A local fire department official said in an interview with the
state broadcaster that sole material piled up in stairwells made
it much harder for the firefighters to reach the flames and put
them out.
CCTV also said the fire department sent 183 people and 35
vehicles to the factory and that open flames were extinguished
after about four hours. Xinhua later said more than 500 people
joined the rescue and search operation.
Work safety has been a persistent problem in China. In May, an
explosion at a fireworks plant in the city of Changsha in the
central province of Hunan killed at least 37 people. In 2024, a
fire at a refrigeration facility under construction killed 39
people in the city of Xinyu in the southeastern Jiangxi
province.
Authorities have repeatedly ordered businesses to screen for
workplace hazards. Official data show that 18,261 people died in
nearly 20,000 workplace accidents across the country in 2025,
down from the previous year.
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