China Arrests Seven after Deadly Hotel Fire

Authorities have formally arrested seven people after a hotel fire sparked by unsafe welding and cutting work killed 10 people in central China, state media said Monday. 

Construction workers and contractors were among those arrested on suspicion of negligence that caused the blaze, the official Xinhua news agency reported. 

The fire broke out Saturday morning at the HNA Platinum Mix Hotel in the Jiangxi provincial capital of Nanchang and killed three guests and seven construction workers, it earlier cited the city government as saying. 

Three of nine injured people being treated in hospital were in critical condition after the blaze broke out during work in a karaoke parlour. 

Fire safety is routinely ignored in China, with exit doors often locked and escape passages blocked.

Earlier this month, 18 people were killed when a foot massage parlour caught fire in the eastern province of Zhejiang. 

Seven died in a fire in an elderly care facility last month.