Two reported missing from Urumqi blaze

URUMQI—Two people have been reported missing from Wednesday’s two-building fire here that killed three firemen and injured another.
The fire, which began in a 12-story market and office building, spread to an adjacent 20-story hotel. Xinjiang Doowin Industrial and Commercial Group Co., Ltd., owner of the market-office building, has confirmed that two people, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s, were missing. Witnesses said the two missing, both of whom worked for the planning department of the Doowin International Plaza — the market-office building — were in their office when the fire broke out on the first floor.
“Their families and colleagues have had no contact with them since the fire occurred,” said Gou Wei, spokesman with the Doowin group. The injured fireman remained in the hospital in stable condition. Top managers with the Doowin group, including president Qian Jinnai, have been requested to remain in Urumqi for an investigation, and the property and accounts of Doowin International Plaza, a subsidiary of the Doowin group and the building where the blaze began, have been frozen, according to local police.
The blaze began in a mop vendor’s stall at 8:20 p.m. on Wednesday in the plaza, which is in downtown Urumqi, capital of the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. A security guard who had worked in the building said that firemen had arrived at the scene within 15 minutes but were unable to prevent the blaze from spreading to the hotel. Nearly 1,200 firemen took more than 22 hours to extinguish the blaze, which was finally put out on Thursday night. Six people were rescued.
Opened in 2003, the Doowin International Plaza was a wholesale market that housed about 2,000 vendors of clothing, toys and household supplies. It had a total area of about 100,000 square meters. It is also where the headquarters of the Doowin Group were located.
“We suffered great losses in the fire, even losing most of the Doowin Group’s files, but we will try our best to cooperate with the police for the investigation, “said Gou Wei.—Xinhua