China apartment fire kills at least 14 in Taiyuan

A fire in an apartment building in Taiyuan, northern China, killed at least 14 people, state media reported Monday.

The blaze broke out in the Shanxi provincial capital at around 5:00 pm on Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Xinhua said 38 people were taken to hospital for treatment and that five of them had died, raising the reported death toll to 14 on Monday morning.

The flames were extinguished on Sunday and search and rescue efforts have been completed, Xinhua said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

China launched a campaign against fire hazards in high-rise buildings last November after a major fire in Hong Kong killed 168 people. A fire at a residential building in Guangdong province killed 12 people a month later, and a shoe-factory fire in eastern China killed at least 28 people in July.