Massive HighRise Fire in Downtown Beijing, China: CCTV Annex Fire Mandarin Oriental Hotel

From CNN: BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A Chinese television station has apologized for Monday's massive fire at an unoccupied luxury hotel that killed a firefighter and wounded seven other people.

Police suspect fireworks to be the cause of the blaze at the 40-story Mandarin Oriental.

Central China Television (CCTV) said in its apology that staffers who were overseeing the construction of a new television complex in central Beijing hired people to set off large firecrackers outside the building without prior approval.

The resulting fire engulfed the newly constructed 40-story Mandarin Oriental, located next door.

One firefighter died of smoke inhalation, Beijing officials said Tuesday. Six other firefighters and a construction worker were recuperating in hospitals.

The blaze erupted in the final hours of new year's celebrations as people set off fireworks across the city.

Fred Rice, a British national who lives in Beijing, said "the top of the building was exploding."

"We weren't sure if it was gas canisters or what. It was a spectacular sight for sure," he said.

"It was spreading incredibly fast," said another witness, Stephen Chaytor. "It went from small flames to being totally engulfed in flames."

Beijing residents were supposed to stop selling and lighting fireworks by midnight, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The modern, angular building was a sign of Beijing's recent transformation and modernization. It had been scheduled to open late last year, but the opening was postponed until this year, though most of the building had been constructed.

According to its Web site, the Mandarin Oriental-Beijing is the flagship property in China for the Mandarin Oriental hotel chain.

The tower stands more than 500 feet high and contains 241 rooms, Xinhua reported.

(Moral of the story? Don't play with fire!)

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• china
• chinese
• hotel
• fire
• mass
• massive
• destructive
• destroy
• destruction
• high
• rise
• highrise
• sky
• scraper
• skyscraper
• beijing
• cctv
• annex
• night
• nighttime
• dark
• fireworks
• mandarin
• oriental

[halburd1]

yeah ofcourse there was explosions in it from all the natural gas they use for cooking and water heating. every apartment there has atleast 3 gas outlets for hot water and cooking 2 in the kitchen one in the bathroom.

[CincinnatiGifts]

Are we talking about the WTC buldings? If so, there were NO apartments in the WTC buildings.

[tomkwc]

I don't think "designed to take significant sideways forces that rarely happen" includes falling debris from 2 100+ story steel structure collapsing next door. I'm not saying I trust the government 100%, but if you absolutely trust this conspiracy theory with 100% confidence that WTC 7 was not brought down by the the complication of 2 massive steel structure violently crashing down into lower Manhatten and pushing debris into the sea, then you are not considering all options.

[CincinnatiGifts]

The owner of the WTC complex, Larry Silverstein, admitted that WTC7 was "pulled", as in a controlled demolition.

[tomkwc]

When he said "I remember getting a call from the fire department commander, uh, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it"

R U sure "it" does not mean the rescue operation? If he was giving the order to demolish the building, why does he refer to preventing the further loss of life? R u sure u r 100% right? If u r even 1% wrong u r spitting on peoples graves

[CincinnatiGifts]

No one is spitting on anyone's grave, tom. Let's not get overly dramatic here, OK?

WTC7 had only 1 or 2 small minor fires, compared to the massive destruction plainly evident in the towers. I don't recall hearing of ANY rescue operations in WTC7, do you? But, I remember hearing of LOTS of rescue operations responding to the twin towers.

So, I'm quite certain "it" does NOT refer to a non-existant rescue operation at WTC7. I dont recall hearing of any casuaties coming from WTC7, do u?

[MeatVision]

MASSIVE FIRE. NO COLLAPSE. PERIOD.

9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB

[bongcouver]

@tomkwc  /watch?v=QyRLauk36uM

[mattmatt115]

Why did other buildings that were in closer proximity to the twin towers not collapse before or after or to this day, since WTC7 fell? Steel framed Mariot WTC did not collapse. The debris from the first tower damaged it significantly, the second tower did extreme damage but part of the building stood. Had to be later demolished, as did 6, 5 and 4. WTC7 was across the road from 5 and 6. Remember? and then behind 5 and 6 relative to 7, stood the twin towers.

Bankers Trust decided to stand proud

[etiennealive]

@CincinnatiGifts Type in your Youtube comment bar ; Bijlmer Crash october 4, 1992

In this year an Israeleian frightplane crashed into a building. Part of the building is stil standing till today ! Despite the building was even weaker than WTC7.

Please Reply.

[arashdalir]

@tomkwc please consider that there were 2 buildings - one on each side of the building 7 - that didn't have enough damage to make them collapse; also there were 2 more WTC buildings straight beneath the towers (buildings 6 and 5) which albeit the really heavy damage, stood still for i think a month till they were literally pulled. in fact the only buildings that collapsed in NY that day, were in WTC complex. none of the buildings around them had such a severe and irreparable damages.

[JDSabre]

Did it collapse yet?

9/11 Truth. Get informed.

[halburd1]

no i was just commenting on how asian residential building high rises are equiped and why there would be explosions when one caught on fire. ( i lived in one for a year).

[halburd1]

nope i wasn't and no you are right that their isnt apratments in wtc. lol. how could you possibly conclude i was when i mentioned kitchens and bedrooms?