Thirteen schoolchildren aged 9 and 10 have died after a fire broke out in a school dormitory in central China's Henan province. One person injured in the incident is being treated at the hospital and is in stable condition.
The British news media BBC confirmed the matter on Saturday (January 20) according to the country's state news agency Xinhua.
This terrible fire happened on Friday night at Yingkai School in Yanshanpu Village, Henan Province.
In the incident, the manager of the school near Nanyang city has been detained and an investigation is underway.
A teacher at the school told the state-run Hebei Daily that the victims were all third-graders
Around 30 students were in the hostel when the fire broke out and the rest were evacuated to safety. The fire was extinguished less than an hour after firefighters were alerted, Xinhua said.
No details about the identity of the dead or the cause of the fire have been released through official channels.
State media footage showed some windows in the dormitory building smashed, and the area around the school cordoned off, with police officers patrolling the scene.
According to Xinhua, the school has been privately run for ten years. It provides meals for nursery and primary age students living in nearby rural areas.
The agency said children enrolled in the school's nursery have already returned home over the weekend.
Horrifying footage of the blaze showed people climbing through windows into air-conditioning units to escape the blaze.
Fatal fires are not uncommon in China due to building and safety standards. In November, 26 people died after a major fire tore through an office building in Luliang City, Shaanxi Province.
A hospital fire in Beijing last April killed at least 29 people - mostly patients.