Managers held over massage parlor fire that killed 18

A man walks past the Zuxintang Foot Massage Parlor damaged by a fire in east Zhejiang Province yesterday

Authorities have detained those in charge of a foot massage parlor in eastern China in which 18 people were killed and another 18 injured in a fire Sunday.

The official Xinhua News Agency gave no further details and the cause of the fire was under investigation yesterday. Workers jumped out of windows to escape the blaze, which broke out at the Zuxintang parlor in Zhejiang province’s Tiantai county at around 4 p.m.

China has struggled to improve workplace safety and change a deep-rooted business mentality that puts profits above all else.

Recent disasters include an explosion at a hazardous material warehouse in the eastern city of Tianjin in August 2015 that killed at least 114 people.

Categories China