Major fire breaks out at skyscraper in China with ‘floors burning ferociously’

Social media video shows large plume of smoke emerging from building

This screengrab taken from a video provided to AFPTV by an anonymous source on 16 September 2022 shows thick smoke billowing from a skyscraper in Changsha, Hunan (ANONYMOUS/AFP via Getty Images)

A major fire has broken out at a skyscraper in China with social media videos showing a giant plume of smoke emerging from it.

The fire started at the central Chinese city of Changsha on Friday. The 218m-tall building with 42 stories is owned by state-owned China Telecom, reported the Associated Press.

China Telecom, in a statement, said no injuries or deaths were reported.

The city’s fire department sent 280 firefighters who successfully managed to put out the blaze.

“Thick smoke is spewing from the site, and several dozen floors are burning ferociously,” reported state-run broadcaster CCTV.

The state-run telecom company also said there were no cellphone service coverage disruptions.

Social media users, however, said they were not able to use their phones.

A social media video showed the tall skyscraper engulfed in giant flames with debris falling from it and a large plume of smoke rising high in the sky.

Another video filmed closer to the site showed one side of the building burnt and completely covered in flames.

In this image taken from video, massive fire and plumes of smoke rise from a skyscraper on Friday, 16 September 2022, in China’s Changsha city in Hunan province (AP)

There have still not been any reports or statements from officials about the cause of the fire.

Changsha is the capital of China’s central Hunan province. It has a population of about 4.8 million people as of 2022, according to World Population Review, an independent organisation that aggregates population data from across the world.