The fire appears to have started in a building housing offices and dorms in the city of Luliang in Shanxi province.
At least 25 people died in a fire at the offices of a coal mining company in northern China.
A fire broke out on Thursday morning at a shared building of the Yongju coal industry in Shanxi province, the country’s largest coal mining center.
The fire appeared to have broken out in a four-story building housing offices and dorms in the city of Luliang, rather than at a coal mining site. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Rescuers evacuated 63 people from the facility, 51 of whom were taken to hospital, and in the afternoon they managed to bring the fire under control.
Video footage posted on the social media site Weibo showed bright flames and thick black smoke rising from the building, as dozens of people stood in the parking lot and watched.
The building shown in the video corresponds to photos of the coal company’s headquarters posted on its website.
The footage shows emergency workers trying to put on protective equipment in front of a fire truck parked at the entrance to the building.
Chinese coal producers are under scrutiny for a series of mine accidents in recent months, which have hit production as mines halted operations for safety inspections.
In August, 11 people died in an explosion at a coal mine, also in Shanxi province.
A fatal mine collapse in Inner Mongolia in February, trapping more than 50 miners, forced production to be halted for an official investigation, causing direct economic losses of more than 204 million yuan ($27.99 million), according to local media.
