Fire kills 15, injures 1 at S. China ceramics factory

A fire at a ceramics factory killed 15 people and seriously injured one Tuesday morning in the south China's Guangdong Province, local authorities said. The fire broke out at 6:18 a.m., engulfing a building of the Shengfeng Ceramics Company in Sanshui District in the city of Foshan, said Sun Jiangmin, an official with the provincial fire department. Among the casualties, 13 were killed in the fire and another two died after jumping from the four-story building, said Sun. The building has both dormitories and offices inside, he said. According to Sun, the fire started on the second floor and quickly spread to other floors but it is so far unclear how it started. Sun blamed the large number of casualties on the building's poor fire alarm system and flammable interior decorations materials. Over 100 firefighters were mobilized to extinguish the blaze which was put out about two hours later. The factory's legal representative is now in police custody, said Sun.