Fire kills 1,582 in China in 2016

BEIJING -- A total of 312,000 fires occurred across China in 2016, killing 1,582 people and injuring 1,065 others, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.

The fires resulted in direct economic losses of 3.72 billion yuan (537.2 million U.S. dollars), the ministry said in a statement.

The number of fires, fire casualties and economic losses caused by such disasters all decreased by more than 10 percent compared with 2015, according to the statement.

No fire claimed more than 10 lives in 2016, a first since 1949, it said.

Violating electrical installation provisions, careless use of fire and smoking were the top three causes of the disasters, it said.