- Written by Sean Seddon & Vicky Wong
- bbc news
image source, Getty Images
Police were seen standing near a school in Henan province.
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, 13 schoolchildren aged 9 and 10 were confirmed dead in a fire at a school dormitory in central China.
The deadly fire broke out on Friday night at Yingcai School in Yanshanpu village, Henan province.
The administrator of a school near Nanyo City has been detained and an investigation is underway.
The other person is being treated at a hospital and is in stable condition.
A teacher at the school told the state-run Hebei Daily that all the victims were in the same third-grade class.
There were about 30 students in the dormitory at the time of the fire, but the remaining students were able to evacuate safely. According to Xinhua news agency, the fire was extinguished less than an hour after firefighters reported it.
Details regarding the identity of the deceased and the cause of the fire have not been released through official channels.
Photos from state media showed some windows in the dormitory building broken, the area around the school cordoned off and police patrolling the scene.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the school is a private school that has been in operation for 10 years and caters to nursery school and elementary school students living in nearby rural areas.
The agency reported that children enrolled in the school’s nursery school had already returned home over the weekend.
Fatal accidents are common in China due to lax enforcement of building and safety standards.
Harrowing footage of the fire showed people climbing through windows and onto air conditioners to escape the flames.