10 killed in apartment fire in northwest China’s Xinjiang

A fire in an apartment building in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region has killed 10 people and injured nine, authorities said Friday, in the second major fire accident in the country this week, which left a total of 48 dead.
The fire broke out Thursday night in the regional capital of Urumqi, where temperatures have dropped to below freezing after dark.
Flames spread upward from the point of origin on the 15th floor to the 17th floor, with smoke billowing up to the 21st floor, according to multiple state media reports. The blaze took around three hours to extinguish.
The deaths and injuries were caused by inhalation of toxic fumes, with those taken hospital all expected to survive, the reports said. An initial investigation appears to show the fire was sparked from a power strip in a bedroom of one of the 15th-floor apartments, they said.