Nobody reported missing after Tianjin mall fire

TIANJIN - Police announced on Saturday that no one has been reported missing in the wake of a shopping mall fire last week in North China's port city of Tianjin, as more details were revealed on the blaze, which left 10 people dead and another 16 injured.

The fire engulfed the five-story Laide Shopping Mall in Jixian on the afternoon of June 30, killing eight mall workers, a businesswoman of a home textiles store and a customer.

The 10 victims were all female residents of Jixian, aged between 25 and 44, said a statement issued by the Tianjin municipal government's information office.

Relatives of the 10 victims have identified their bodies, according to the statement.

Of the 16 slightly injured people, nine have been discharged from hospital, doctors with Jixian County People's Hospital said on Saturday.

The shopping mall, covering an area of 5,800 square meters, had 103 counters rented by more than 70 commercial tenants.

About 120 saleswomen and 33 other members of staff -- including cashiers, floor managers, accountants, cleaners, electricians and security guards -- were present when the fire broke out, said Wang Fang, deputy manager of the mall.

"It was very hot that day, and there weren't too many customers in the mall," Wang explained.

Mall floor managers recalled that the first level, selling cosmetics and shoes, had about a dozen customers, and the second floor, which sells woman's dress, also held less than 20 customers at the time.

On the third floor, which sells menswear, there were only three or four customers. And about six were on the fourth level, which sells outdoor and sportswear.

"There was a power cut in the mall at that moment, and someone was calling us to leave for the first floor, so we ran downstairs, " said He Li, one of the saleswoman injured in the blaze, adding that she was on the fifth floor, which sells underwear and bedclothes, when the fire broke out, and about a dozen saleswomen and three customers were with her.

Wang Huiying, another injured saleswoman from the fifth floor, said about a dozen people rushed to the second floor but dense smoke from the first floor engulfed the second, and they had to break the windows and escape via ladders.

"Firefighters arrived and people on the third floor got out with their help before us," Wang remembered.

Li Ming, an official of the public security fire department of Tianjin, said a report of fire was received at 3:41 pm on June 30, and the first group of firefighters arrived at the scene at 3:49.

Firemen rescued 31 people via ladders and removed some trapped people to the flat roof of the mall.

"From 6:15 pm, 10 bodies were retrieved," Li said, adding that firemen then searched the whole of the mall in four sweeps and didn't find anyone.

Among the victims, none fell to their deaths from the building, confirmed Li Jidong, an assistant to the director of the Jixian hospital.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.