SHENYANG – A devastating fire at a restaurant in the city of Liaoyang, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, has killed 22 people and injured three others, while the operator of the establishment has been detained by police, according to the city government.
The fatal blaze started at 12:25 p.m. on Tuesday, with a total of 22 fire trucks and 85 firefighters dispatched to the scene, where they swiftly extinguished the flames and conducted search-and-rescue operations.
XINHUA
BEIJING – A restaurant fire in northeastern China killed 22 people on Tuesday, the official news agency Xinhua said, in the latest in a series of similar deadly incidents around the country.
Xinhua did not identify the cause of the fire but said President Xi Jinping called it “a deeply sobering lesson” and urged local officials to quickly treat the injured, determine what triggered the blaze and hold those responsible to account.
The fire broke out at 12:25 p.m. (0425 GMT) in a restaurant in a residential area of Liaoning Province’s Liaoyang City, state broadcaster CCTV said. Three people were injured.
Footage circulating on social media including X and Chinese platform Douyin, unverified by Reuters, showed bright orange flames engulfing a storefront on street level alongside scores of parked vehicles. Smoke was seen billowing out as paramedics tended to people on stretchers.
Hao Peng, secretary of Liaoning’s provincial ruling party committee, said 22 fire trucks and 85 firefighters were deployed to the scene. Hao said the on-site rescue work had been completed and people had been evacuated.
It was the latest in a spate of similar incidents across the country in recent years. In April, 20 people were killed in a fire that broke out in an apartment for the elderly at a nursing home in the northern province of Hebei.
Gas leaks caused at least two high-profile explosions in residential areas last year, with a blast at a restaurant in Hebei province killing two people and injuring 26 in March, and an explosion in a highrise building in southern Shenzhen province in September killing one person.
REUTERS
BEIJING – A bridge collapsed in Beijing’s northeastern Shunyi District, according to authorities and images circulating on social media.
There were no casualties immediately reported, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport wrote on the social media platform Weibo.
Parts of the bridge were damaged after a fire broke out Wednesday morning, the commission said. Traffic was stopped in both directions, and the fire was later put out. Authorities were investigating its cause.
AP
CHANGSHA – Six people drowned in a boat accident on Monday in Pingjiang County, central China’s Hunan Province, local authorities said.
At around 5:30 p.m., a boat carrying six villagers capsized in the waters of Doutang Village, along the Changjiang River in Pingjiang.
Local police rushed to the scene and coordinated with rescue forces to carry out search and rescue operations.
As of 9:05 p.m., all six bodies had been recovered. The cause of the accident is currently under investigation.
XINHUA
BEIJING – China’s capital hunkered down on Saturday as rare typhoon-like gales swept northern regions, forcing the closure of historic sites and disrupting travel while bringing late snowfalls and hailstone showers in some areas.
Windows shook and trees crashed onto footpaths and cars, rocked by gusts of wind driven by a cold vortex from neighbouring Mongolia that sent temperatures plunging by more than 12 degrees Celsius (22 degrees Fahrenheit).
The winds, which started on Friday, are set to continue over the weekend, packing gusts of up to 150 kph (90 mph), the official Xinhua news agency said. They brought late snowfalls in Inner Mongolia and hailstones in southern China.
Beijing issued its second-highest gale alert this weekend, for the first time in a decade, warning 22 million residents to avoid non-essential travel as winds could potentially break April records dating from 1951.
The winds dominated social media chats, with many people expressing concern for food delivery workers braving the conditions.
“In weather like this, we can choose not to order delivery – it’s too hard for them,” one Weibo user wrote.
By 11.30 a.m. (0330 GMT), 838 flights had been cancelled at Beijing’s two major airports, the Flight Master tracking app showed, while the capital’s historic sights and parks were shut, with some old trees trimmed in preparation for the cold blast.
The winds forced the postponement of a half-marathon set for Sunday featuring humanoid robots competing with humans in a bid to showcase China’s technological advances.
Sandstorms raging over a stretch from Inner Mongolia to the Yangtze River region crippled road travel in eight provinces, Xinhua and state broadcaster CCTV said.
Sandstorms were expected to impact Shanghai from Saturday afternoon through to Sunday morning.
Strong winds bringing sand and dust from Mongolia are routine in spring, but climate change has made weather events more extreme.
REUTERS
KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine on Wednesday expanded on its claim that significant numbers of Chinese nationals are fighting for Russia’s invading army, saying it had gathered detailed intelligence on more than 150 mercenaries Moscow allegedly recruited through social media. In China, officials called the allegations “totally unfounded.”
The Ukrainian accusation and Chinese denial come as the US strives to secure a ceasefire in the more than three-year war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday that the Ukrainian military had captured two Chinese men fighting alongside the Russian army on Ukrainian soil.
It was the first time Ukraine had made such a claim about Chinese fighters in the war.
On Wednesday, Zelensky said he was willing to exchange the two prisoners of war for Ukrainian soldiers held captive in Russia.
Without providing evidence, Zelensky said officials in Beijing were aware of Russia’s campaign to recruit Chinese mercenaries.
He stopped short of saying the Chinese government authorized the mercenaries’ involvement in Ukraine.
Zelensky said Ukraine has the last names and passport data for 155 Chinese citizens fighting for the Russian army and that “we believe that there are many more of them.”
He shared with journalists documents listing names, passport numbers and personal details of the alleged Chinese recruits, including when they arrived in Russia for military training and departed for service; the AP has not independently verified the documents.
China has provided strong diplomatic support for Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It has also sold Russia machinery and microelectronics that it can use to make weapons, Western officials say, in addition to providing an economic lifeline through the trade in energy and consumer goods.
China is not believed to have knowingly provided Russia with troops, weapons or military expertise.
US officials have accused Iran of providing Russia with drones, while American and South Korean officials say North Korea has sent thousands of troops and ammunition to help Russia on the battlefield.
With the US and Europe having provided substantial military support and diplomatic heft for Ukraine, the war has to some degree become a contest between power blocs.
Tensions between the US and China have deepened in recent years.
Disputes have centered on geopolitical influence, technology and trade — and recently escalating import tariffs between the countries have roiled global financial markets.
Zelensky said US officials expressed “surprise” when informed of the presence of Chinese mercenaries in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump is trying to follow through on a campaign promise last year to swiftly end the war in Ukraine.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a briefing in Washington on Tuesday that reports of Chinese citizens fighting on behalf of Russia were “disturbing.”
“China is a major enabler of Russia in the war in Ukraine,” Bruce said.
China provides nearly 80 percent of the dual-use items Russia needs to sustain the war, she claimed.
But Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said he is “not convinced yet” the Chinese personnel identified as fighting on behalf of Russia against Ukraine are more than mercenaries or volunteers.
“There’s an axiom in the military, the first report is always wrong,” Kellogg said during a Wednesday appearance at Georgetown University. “And this is one of those let’s sit back and see how this plays out, because it could be volunteers.”
Kellogg noted that Ukraine also has volunteers from other countries, including the United States, fighting on its behalf. He added that the early reports of Chinese personnel are not on par with North Korea’s deployment of thousands of troops to the frontlines.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, also called Beijing “the key enabler of Russia’s war.”
Dual-use goods are entering Russia via China, she said in Brussels, adding “it’s clear that if China would want to really stop the support then it would have an impact.”
China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for the war, according to a US assessment last year.
The Kremlin has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting in Ukraine. The Kyiv government has consented to it. Both sides are believed to be readying spring-summer military campaigns.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in Beijing that China has played a “constructive role in politically resolving the Ukraine crisis.”
Lin told a daily news briefing Wednesday that “the Chinese government always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones, avoid getting involved in any form of armed conflict, and especially refrain from participating in any party’s military operations.”
His comments appeared to indicate that the captured Chinese had joined Russia’s ranks on their own initiative. Both Russia and Ukraine allow foreign soldiers to enlist.
China has previously put forward a vague peace plan that was swiftly dismissed by most observers.
In the meantime, both countries have kept fighting a war of attrition along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and targeted each other with long-range strikes.
AN-AP
SHIJIAZHUANG – A fire at a nursing home in north China’s Hebei Province has left 20 people dead, local authorities said Wednesday.
The blaze broke out around 9 p.m. on Tuesday in Longhua County, Chengde City.
As of 3 a.m. Wednesday, a total of 20 people were confirmed dead.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
XINHUA
CHENGDU – Five people were killed and eight others injured after an overloaded minivan crashed into a residential building in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, local police said Wednesday.
The accident occurred at around 6:55 a.m. on Tuesday, when a small van carrying 13 people, nearly double its approved capacity of seven, veered off the road and slammed into a roadside house in Luzhou City, according to police officers in the city’s Jiangyang District.
The impact damaged the building and caused part of it to collapse, though no one was inside at the time, police said.
The injured are in stable condition. The cause of the accident is being investigated.
XINHUA
YANGON, March 29 – Two survivors with vital signs were found by China’s Yunnan Rescue Medical Team in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, on Saturday, following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on Friday.
The Chinese rescue team arrived in Nay Pyi Taw on Saturday and immediately joined forces with local Myanmar firefighters to search for survivors.
The quake caused severe damage to a three-story hospital, with the first floor completely collapsed, trapping patients beneath the rubble.
Using life detection equipment, the Yunnan rescue team located two survivors with vital signs.
According to a local fire department official, many of the casualties in the city were elderly and children, as the earthquake hit during working hours when most adults were away from home.
XINHUA
KUNMING – The homes of 847 households in Ruili City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province that borders Myanmar, were damaged in a massive earthquake that struck Myanmar on Friday.
As of Saturday noon, a total of 2,840 people in the city, which is about 300 km from the epicenter, have been affected, according to sources from the Ruili municipal government.
Following the quake, local governments have deployed task forces for disaster relief, monitoring geological hazards, inspecting water conservancy projects, repairing electrical facilities, and carrying out emergency road maintenance.
Two people sustained minor injuries in the quake and have received medical treatment. The city government is currently assessing the extent of the losses suffered by local residents.
Water, electricity, transportation and communication in Ruili have returned to normal.
So far the devastating quake has killed 1,002 people, injured 2,376 and left 30 missing in Myanmar.
XINHUA
