| The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of China on Wednesday warned of increasing fire risks in winter, especially during the upcoming Christmas and New Year's Day holidays.
Fire accidents in China have claimed 106 lives in November, up 34.2 percent year on year, said Wang Qinlin, deputy director of the ministry's fire department, at a press conference.
The number of fires increased 13.5 percent year on year to 10,518 last month, he added.
The official urged firefighters across the country to be vigilant during the upcoming Christmas, New Year's Day and Chinese lunar new year holidays, when people would set off fireworks for celebration.
About half of the fire accidents that killed more than 30 people in each occurred in winter over the past 30 years, according to the MPS statistics.
A total of 116,653 fire accidents in China had left 945 people dead and 551 others injured from January to November this year, along with a direct economic loss of 1.16 billion yuan (169.8 million U.S. dollars).
However, the numbers of the fires, deaths, injured people and direct economic loss have dropped by 2.5 percent, 21.6 percent, 11.7 percent and 20 percent respectively year on year, the official said. |
