19 Dead in Hotel Fire at Chinese Resort

At least 19 people were killed and 18 injured in a fire at a resort hotel in China’s northeastern city of Harbin early on Saturday, the local government said. According to an official report on the government’s social media account, the fire broke out at 4:36 a.m. local time at North Loong Hotel in Harbin’s Sun Island resort area. It was put out in about three hours, SCMP reported. By 11:30 a.m., the government said, firefighters had searched the site thoroughly, with 19 injured people having been taken to hospital, of whom one later died. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the government said. The provincial fire department said in an official post that the fire had started from the kitchen on the second floor, but gave no further details. The disaster added to a string of deadly blazes that have plagued China despite official efforts to improve public safety over the past two decades.