Beijing apartment fire kills 17

BEIJING: A fire early on Monday killed 17 people in an apartment block on the outskirts of Beijing, prompting city officials to vow to pursue any culpability for the blaze, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The fire broke out in a four-storey building in a town in Daxing District, a heavily rural area in the south of Beijing, Xinhua reported, citing police. The fire injured 24 people.

The ruling Communist Party is anxious about any accidents that could unsettle the public, especially in the capital, and city leaders rushed to the scene, where close to 200 firefighters and police were putting out the blaze.

The city's party secretary, Liu Qi, and mayor, Guo Jinlong, told investigators to "rapidly establish the cause", Xinhua said. Officials vowed to "strictly pursue responsibility according to the law". (Reuters)