On the night of August 23, a fire broke out in a street-side shop in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, resulting in at least 6 deaths. Local residents reported that all the victims were members of the same family. A video of the incident quickly rose to the eighth spot on the popular video-sharing platform Douyin, attracting attention across the internet.
The scene captured in the video showed a store engulfed in flames with thick smoke billowing and explosions accompanying the raging fire.
A merchant on Changjiang Road mentioned to Jimo News that the store that caught fire was an electric bicycle shop. Following the incident, the area was cordoned off. That night, the local police station called them to check the surveillance cameras at the store, but by the time she arrived at the scene, the fire had already been put out.
According to local netizens, the storefront was on the ground floor while people lived upstairs. The batteries in the store exploded and caught fire. Due to the intensity of the fire, it was impossible to rescue the four children who tragically burned to death. The youngest of them was only 3 years old. The father, who was visiting relatives at the time, survived while the other six perished. “The first floor was engulfed by the electric bikes on fire, and the third floor was sealed off by anti-theft windows, so they couldn’t escape.”
“The screams of the children being torn apart were truly heart-wrenching to hear.” “The child next door was screaming for their mother in the midst of the blaze, it was unbearable.” “Four girls, one boy, barely made it out alive after a night of horror,” nearby residents expressed.
An informant informed Yangzi Evening News that the store owner’s surname is Hu, who operated two electric bicycle shops. The family lived in this shop in the Junwangfu district, consisting of the store owner couple, 5 children, and the grandparents of the children. Four out of the five children perished in the fire.
On the afternoon of the 24th, Suqian Fire Department reported that on the night of the 23rd at 10:05 pm, a fire broke out in a shop in the Junwangfu residential area in the Suyu District. The fire area was approximately 200 square meters, leading to the death of 4 individuals and injuring 2 others, who later succumbed to their injuries, totaling 6 fatalities. The bodies of the victims of the fire were sent to the funeral home on that day.
Taishan Finance reported that according to Baidu Maps, the shop was an Aima Electric Bicycle store. In response, customer service representatives from Aima Electric Bicycles stated that the cause of the accident is currently under investigation by relevant authorities.
As of 2023, the total number of electric bicycles in mainland China has reached 350 million. Official statistics show that in 2023, there were 21,000 cases of electric bicycle fires in mainland China, which is a 17.4% increase from 2022. In 2022, there were a total of 18,000 reported electric bicycle fires, marking a 23.4% increase from 2021.