BEIJING, Sept 16 (Reuters) - A massive fire engulfed a high-rise office building in downtown Changsha, capital of China's southern province of Hunan, on Friday afternoon, state media reported.
Dozens of storeys of the more than 200-metre tall (656-foot) China Telecom (0728.HK) building "burned with great intensity", sending thick smoke into the sky, state broadcaster CCTV said.
A major fire has broken out in a massive skyscraper in China’s Changsha city, with harrowing visuals emerging from the site. The videos from Changsha show dozens of floors of the building engulfed in flames, with firefighters attempting to douse the fire.
Despite the scale of the fire, no casualties have been reported so far, as per the China Telecom building where the fire incident occurred, state media CGTN reported.
The fire in the Lotus Garden China Telecom building was reported at 3.48pm. Thirty-six fire engines and 280 firefighters from 17 stations were sent to the blaze, according to the Hunan Fire Department. By 5pm the fire had been extinguished but firefighters continued rescue efforts. No casualties had been reported by that time.
The commercial building is more than 200 meters tall and is located in Changsha, it added. An investigation is underway into the matter. More details are awaited. State broadcaster CCTV further reports, “Thick smoke is spewing from the site, and several dozen floors are burning ferociously.”
Local media reports have stated that firefighters have arrived at the scene and are trying to control the scale of the fire, while rescue operations are also currently underway. “Firefighters have begun work to extinguish the flames and conduct rescues at the scene,” it added, as per AFP reports.
The videos on social media show a massive orange flame engulfing more than a dozen floors of the building with a thick cloud of black smoke rising up into the sky. As per reports, the burning skyscraper is owned by a state-run telecommunications company China Telecom.