More deaths at work

Following the collapse of the factory building in Bangladesh, a disastrous fire at a poultry processing plant in China.   At least 112 people have been killed in the blaze at Dehui in Jilin province according to an official news agency.

Dozens of injured workers have been sent to hospital, while about 100 managed to escape, but the news agency added that the ‘complicated interior structure’ of the building and narrow exits had made rescue work difficult. It is also said that the front gate had been locked.

One worker said that as the lights went out, people panicked in the rush to find an exit. An investigation is underway, while according to some reports, the fire took hold after a series of explosions in an electrical system.   

This is China's deadliest fire since 2000, when 309 people died in a dance hall in Luoyang, Henan province, while back in 1845, 1,670 people were killed in the world’s deadliest ever theatre fire in Canton.

Theatre fires

On this day…..101 years ago, up to 300 people perished in a fire at the Flores Theatre in Acapulco, Mexico. More than 1,000 people had packed the wooden building for a special show in honour of the state governor.

The fire began while they were watching a film, and it quickly spread to bunting until the whole building was alight. In the panic to escape, many people were crushed to death in addition to those who perished from fire or smoke.

According to a contemporary report, many of those killed were “from the first families of the state, the affair being a social event of considerable importance.”

The world’s deadliest theatre fire happened at Canton in China on March 5, 1845. More than 1,650 people were killed, as the theatre was completely destroyed, and the flames are said to have destroyed another 30 buildings nearby.