Beijing teenagers die in fire during Christmas Eve
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-26 14:33

Two high-school students were confirmed dead in a fire during the night of Christmas Eve in Beijing, local police said on Monday morning.

People in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, queue up at a church on Christmas Eve. [newsphoto]

At around 7:00 Sunday morning, an apartment building caught fire at the Maliandao residential quarters along a business center of Xuanwu District, central Beijing, in which four high-school students, aged 16 to 17, got together for the Christmas Eve.

Two of the four were killed by the blaze, and one surnamed Zheng, who fled to the top of the six-story building for help, with the other surnamed Lu were rescued by local police.

The fire was caused possibly by the overheating of a video game player, and it real cause is still being investigated.

In Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, 26 people were confirmed dead and eight others injured when a bar caught fire on the night of Christmas, local police said on Monday.

All of the wounded are hospitalized.

The fire broke out at around 11:00 Sunday night on Wenkang Road in Tanzhou Town of Zhongshan City, and was extinguished in 10 minutes.