Fire in a commercial building in Shaanxi Province, China... 5 dead, 33 injured

A fire broke out in a commercial building in Taiyuan, Shaanxi Province, China, killing 5 people and 33 people being treated at the hospital.

According to China's official Xinhua News Agency on the 9th, a fire broke out in a building in Yingze District, Taiyuan City at 4:59 p.m. the previous day.

Local authorities said 38 people were taken to the hospital after the fire, and five of them died.

The fire broke out in a nine-story annex building connected to a residential building approximately 40 stories tall.

Based on the initial investigation, authorities estimated that the fire started on the 5th to 6th floors of the annex building.

The 1st to 3rd floors of this building are mainly occupied by educational institutions, the 5th to 7th floors are empty, and the 8th to 9th floors are used as a hotel.

Video released online showed flames rising from several floors of the building and black smoke billowing out the windows.

Some citizens called for rescue from their windows, and residents evacuated as smoke spread to connected residential buildings.

A nearby merchant said, "I heard a cry that there was a fire and looked outside to see flames rising from several floors of the building. I immediately closed the store and evacuated."

Firefighting authorities extinguished the large blaze around 7 p.m., about two hours after the fire broke out, and completed rescue and search operations around 8:30 p.m.

Authorities are investigating the exact cause.