On the night of December 9th, a sudden residential fire broke out on Danfeng Road in Xiashan Street, Chaonan District, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. The incident has so far resulted in 8 deaths and 4 injuries. Videos from the scene show thick smoke billowing and flames shooting up into the sky.
According to a police report released by local authorities on the 10th, the fire broke out at 21:20 on the 9th at a residential building on Danfeng Road in Xiashan Street, Chaonan District. The fire has led to 8 fatalities and 4 injuries.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the building where the fire started is a four-story self-built structure made of reinforced concrete. The ground floor was unused as a commercial space while the second to fourth floors were residential areas, with an affected area of approximately 150 square meters.
Reports from the prominent Weibo user “Lao Mao’s Perspective” on Netease indicate that a Mr. Chen living in the adjacent building to the fire site stated, “I was downstairs organizing goods in the shop when I suddenly smelled something burning. When I looked up, I saw black smoke coming out of the windows on the fourth floor across from me, and within a minute, flames erupted.”
Mr. Chen provided footage showing that around 21:30 that evening, the second to fourth floors of the burning building were engulfed in flames, generating a massive column of smoke in the night sky from the burning of wooden window frames and exterior wall materials, visible clearly several kilometers away.
Photographs from the fire scene depict the exterior of the building charred black by the fire, with the glass windows on the second to fourth floors completely shattered, and the window frames and exterior wall insulation materials burned to almost nothing.
Outside the hospital’s emergency room, a family member of one of the injured individuals anxiously awaited news. She said, “Two families from Chaoyang, both migrant workers, lived in this self-built house, making a living by operating small businesses. We received a call from relatives after 9 p.m. saying the house was on fire. When we rushed over, all we could see was flames, and we couldn’t get close. We still don’t know the condition of the elderly at home,” she sobbed.
A netizen residing in Xiashan Street posted that they could smell the burning odor at home that night.