At least 24 people killed by fire in packed Internet cafe in Beijing

CHINA: At least 24 people were killed and 13 injured when a fire swept through a packed Internet café in a university district…

CHINA: At least 24 people were killed and 13 injured when a fire swept through a packed Internet café in a university district of Beijing yesterday, in the Chinese capital's worst fire in 50 years.

The blaze drew a swift response - Mayor Liu Qi ordered the immediate closure of all Internet cafés in the city and fire inspections of all buildings over the next three months.

Web surfers in the Lanjisu, or Blue Hyperspeed, café in north-west Beijing were trapped inside the burning den because its door was locked and windows blocked by iron bars, Xinhua news agency said. Cyber cafes, many illegal, are popular in the area.

One resident said that eight people escaped through a small bathroom window.

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State-run China Central Television said firefighters rescued 17 people from the blaze. Soot from the fire stretched up the walls above several barred and broken second-floor windows of the two-storey concrete building in a residential area.

"I heard young voices screaming, 'Save us, Save us'," state television quoted a neighbour as saying.

China's tight controls on the Internet and Web cafes have driven many operators underground, where they operate illegally behind locked doors to avoid scrutiny in their rush to serve millions of people seeking Internet access. The fire broke out around 2.40 a.m (local time) and was extinguished less than an hour later.

Four of the 24 victims died in hospital, Xinhua said. - (Reuters)