Warehouse blaze destroys $13m worth of shoes

A weekend fire in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, destroyed 700,000 pairs of shoes worth more than 80 million yuan ($13 million) after a fire in Guangzhou Jianye Mansion on Dec 15, Qianjiang Evening News reported.

Lin Mingde, a businessman from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, said he had lost more than 4 million yuan when more than 26,000 pairs of leather shoes were burned in the mansion.

A pair of shoes usually changes hands for at least 200 yuan, Lin added.

Lin rented a 600 square meter warehouse in the Guangzhou mansion for more than a decade. Annual rent for the mansion reaches 200,000 yuan.

Another Wenzhou businessman, surnamed Dai, also said he had lost at least 2 million yuan when more than 10,000 pairs of his shoes were destroyed.

The fire which broke out at 6:50 pm on Sunday was finally brought under control at about 7 am on Monday. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Five people are being held over the blaze for breaching fire-safety regulations.