A large fire in China has killed at least 16 people after the blaze ripped through a busy shopping centre in the city of Zigong, Sichuan Province.
State media Xinhua said the fire burned through the building and rescue operations concluded around 3am on July 18 local time.
The blaze broke out in a 14-storey commercial building in the Southwestern city, located 1,900km from the Chinese capital Beijing.
Firefighters responded to an emergency call shortly after 6pm and managed to pull around 75 people to safety while working overnight, according local media.
Preliminary investigations suggest the blaze was caused by construction work, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing local authorities.
Offices, a department store, restaurants and a cinema are housed on the site. Videos showed thick clouds of black smoke coming from the lower levels of the building.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Fire department authorities have urged the public “not believe or amplify rumours” about the blaze, according to reports. China’s Ministry of Emergency Management has sent experts to Sichuan to carry out an investigation.
Incidents of this kind are not uncommon in China. The country reported 947 fire fatalities in the first several months of this year up to 20 May, representing a 19 per cent rise on the same period of the previous year, Li Wanfeng, a spokesperson for the National Fire and Rescue Administration, told AP.
He said fires in public places such as hotels and restaurants had increased 40 per cent with the most common causes being malfunctioning electrical or gas lines and carelessness.
It comes after other deadly fires devastated communities earlier this year.
In January, a blaze at a mixed-use building in southeast China resulted in the deaths of at least 39 people.
Only days earlier, a fire at a boarding school in central Henan province left 13 children dead.