China: Fire at airport construction site kills 2

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING

At least two people were killed and five others injured Friday when a fire broke out at an underground construction site at an airport in China’s largest city.

The Shanghai Daily reported that all victims were transported to a nearby hospital after the accident at Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport, and two of the wounded suffered serious injuries.

The fire burned around 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) at the scene, the Xinmin.cn news website cited the municipal firefighting department as saying.

Shanghai’s publicity authority said the blaze was extinguished in around an hour and investigations are ongoing into the cause behind the accident.

Operations at the affected terminal were reportedly unaffected by the fire.

Hongqiao Airport was ranked as the sixth busiest airport on mainland China last year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.