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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Benjamin Lynch

China fire: Enormous blaze rips through city skyscraper as smoke billows into the air

A huge fire has broken out in a skyscraper in a city.

Horrifying videos show massive pieces of debris being cast away from the China Telecom Building, the office of state-owned state-owned telecommunications company China Telecom in Changsha in Hunan Province.

It is not known if there have been casualties.

Videos showed residents watching in horror from the inside as rising flames licked the side of the building and workers were evacuated from smoky offices in the Chinese city.

Early reports indicate people have been evacuated from the buildings as the fire swept up the building on Friday.

The building is around 200-metres high and "burned with great intensity", according to reports in China.

Videos showed huge amounts of debris falling off the building (Twitter/@melonconsumer)
The building belonged to a Chinese telecommunications company (twitter.com/SixthTone)

Chinese state broadcast state broadcaster CCTV reported: "Thick smoke is spewing from the site, and several dozen floors are burning ferociously."

"Firefighters have begun work to extinguish the flames and conduct rescues at the scene."

Photos from the terrifying scene indicate the fire has been put out by authorities tackling the blaze, but casualties remain unknown.

Changsha is the capital of Hunan province and has a population of around 10 million people.

Anyone trapped inside are said to have "slim" odds of survival (twitter.com/tongbingxue)

China Telecom is a major company with over 362 million subscribers and employs over 270,000 people.

The fire comes mere days after reports of a big fire in a nickel refinery in Russia, on Wednesday, September 14.

Reports by Russian news agency Interfax said a fire broke out at the Kola MMC plant, in Monchegorsk, Murmansk region.

Much of the massive industrial facility was engulfed in flames and though no casualties were reported, work at the plant had to be put on hold.

While it is not clear how the fire may impact on production levels, the company supplies around 10% of the world's nickel.

Owned by Norilsk Nickel, a press release by the company said: "All personnel were evacuated promptly, and no one was injured."

Huge fires in skyscrapers are particularly alarming as buildings are designed to contain fires to a minimum, or within the area they started.

A huge fire has broken out in a skyscraper in the Chinese city of Changsha (@tongbingxue/Twitter)

An entire building being engulfed in flame can lead to a number of deaths and little time for people inside to get out.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service said: "High-rise buildings are designed to prevent the spread of fire and smoke and provide a safe means of escape for occupants.

"The walls, doors and floors are specially designed to resist fire and stop the spread of smoke and most fires that occur are contained within the room of origin.

"Outside the building, roads and other areas are designed so that emergency vehicles can get as near as possible."

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