Taiyuan apartment fire death toll rises to 14

The death toll from an apartment-building fire in Taiyuan, in northern China's Shanxi province, has risen to 14, according to state-media reports on November 9. The fire broke out at about 5pm the previous day.

Thirty-eight people were taken to hospital following the blaze. An initial report put the number of deaths at five, before the total rose to 14 on Monday morning. The figures describe successive updates from the incident rather than separate fires.

The fire was extinguished on Sunday and search-and-rescue work had been completed, the reports said. Investigators were still examining how it started. No specific cause was established in the account, so it should not be attributed to an electrical fault, deliberate action or a particular building defect without further findings.

The latest report focuses on the revised casualty total and the completed emergency response. It does not provide a confirmed explanation for the increase in deaths or enough information to assess each injured person's condition. Further findings from the investigation will be needed to explain the circumstances of the blaze.