Shoe factory fire in China's Fujian kills at least 28
At least 28 people were killed when a fire tore through a multi-storey shoe factory in Jinjiang, in China’s coastal Fujian province, around midday on July 9. The plant, operated by footwear manufacturer Huiteng, had 239 people inside when the blaze broke out; 213 were evacuated, two of whom later died in hospital, and 26 others reported missing were confirmed dead.
Jinjiang is a major footwear and apparel hub often called China’s “shoe capital.” A local fire official said stacks of sole material piled up in stairwells made the flames far harder to reach and extinguish, and some workers were trapped on the rooftop. It ranks among China’s deadliest fires in recent years.
Industrial blazes on this scale in China are typically followed by an official investigation and a round of safety inspections; the stairwell obstruction points to the storage and egress failures that recur in such cases. Authorities have not yet stated a cause.