9 surrender to police after forest fire in NW China

YINCHUAN -- Nine people involved in a forest fire that killed two and injured six in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region have surrendered to the police, local authorities said Sunday.

According to the police investigation, the nine visited graves on a barren hill in Machang Village in the city of Guyuan, and caused the fire that broke out around 11:50 am Saturday. They surrendered to police at 7 pm on the same day.

It is a Chinese tradition to pay tribute to late friends and family by burning fake paper money and other possessions.

The city's forest and grassland fire prevention headquarters said over 2,000 people from fire fighting forces, professional teams, public security bureaus and militia had been mobilized to extinguish the fire.

By 8:10 am Sunday, the fire had been put out. About 267 hectares of land had been scorched, including 8 hectares of forest land.