海角大神

A blaze at a locked聽poultry聽slaughterhouse in聽northeast China聽killed at least 119 people on Monday with several still unaccounted for, officials and state media said, triggering online outrage in a country with a grim record on fire safety.

The fire broke out just after dawn near Dehui in聽Jilin聽province. The聽provincial government聽said it sent more than 500 firefighters and more than 270 doctors and nurses to the scene, evacuating 3,000 nearby residents as a precaution.

China Central Television聽showed thick black smoke pouring from a low-slung, one-storey building with an arched roof over part of it.

Flames shot through some rooftop vents, and firefighters on the ground and on high ladders poured water onto the roof and onto smouldring debris inside the building.

CCTV showed a backhoe punching through a wall so firefighters could aim more water inside.

"It was so fast - we first saw a聽flash, then there was a big 'bang'," an unidentified employee of the slaughterhouse told CCTV. "We knew it was bad, so then we all ran. We didn't know what happened, we didn't know it was an explosion."

The death toll prompted President聽Xi Jinping, on a visit to聽Latin America聽and the聽United States, to issue instructions to care for the injured and vigorously investigate the cause of the disaster, holding accountable according to law all found to be responsible, the television reported.

Premier聽Li Keqiang聽called on firefighters and other emergency workers to proceed urgently to save lives as the top priority, CCTV said.

Local police聽said ammonia gas leaks might have caused the explosions, prompting the evacuation of residents, the聽China聽News Service reported.

More than 300 workers were in the plant at the time, with employees reporting hearing the bang and then seeing smoke, state news agency聽Xinhua聽said.

"About 100 workers have managed to escape from the plant whose gate was locked when the fire occurred,"聽Xinhua聽said.

"The complicated interior structure of the prefabricated house in which the fire broke out and the narrow exits have added difficulties to the rescue work."

The exact number of people missing was unclear, as was the cause of the fire,聽Xinhua said. The聽Jilin government聽said 60 people were injured and had been rushed to hospital.

People took to social media sites to express their anger.

"Was this place never regularly inspected by fire safety authorities?" wrote one user on China's popular聽Twitter-like service Sina Weibo.

"Senior officials need to be sacked because of this," wrote another.

RELATIVES OF VICTIMS DEMAND EXPLANATION

Victims' relatives gathered outside the building to "demand the government investigate and announce the cause of the accident as soon as possible",聽Xinhua聽said.

Hong Kong's聽Phoenix Television聽cited family members as saying that the doors were always kept locked during working hours during which workers were forbidden to leave and that the slaughterhouse never carried out fire drills.

China's record is poor. Fire exits in factories are often locked or blocked and regulations can be easily skirted by bribing corrupt officials.

Jilin聽is a largely agricultural province and an important grower of corn and soy beans.

The slaughterhouse is owned by a small local feed and聽poultry聽producer called聽Jilin Baoyuanfeng聽Poultry聽Company, according to the government.

A fire at a nightclub in聽Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, killed 44 people in 2008. A senior policeman was jailed for taking bribes to allow the unlicensed venue to remain open.

One of modern聽China's worst fire disasters occurred in late 2000, when fire engulfed building workers at a discotheque in a mall in the central city of聽Luoyang, killing 309.

Many of聽China's deadly industrial accidents happen in the huge coal mining industry, in which more than 1,300 people died last year from explosions, mine cave-ins and floods. (Additional reporting by Terril Yue Jones; Editing by Ron Popeski)