Beijing Blaze Was CCTV's Fault

We told you yesterday about the building in Beijing that went up in flames on Monday during the Lantern Festival celebrations. It's a hotel building that's part of the CCTV complex.

CCTV—which is China's state-run TV station—has now confirmed that people it hired are to blame for starting the fire. They had launched dangerous fireworks from the rooftop without proper permits.

Yesterday, CCTV apologized for the incident. It had killed one fireman, injured at least six others, and severely damaged the 500-million-dollar building.

A spokesman for the Beijing Fire Brigade says flames spread quickly throughout the building—which was still under construction—because sprinkler systems and fireproofing were not yet in place.

A leaked memo shows the Communist Party's Propaganda Bureau ordered media to use only official reports on the incident, and prevent Internet users from posting comments and photos of the fire.

But by Tuesday, photos and video of the fire--captured by ordinary citizens--were circulating the Internet, including the footage you are watching, which was posted to YouTube.

Many on the Internet called the blaze a bad omen for the new year.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• beijing
• CCTV
• fireworks
• china news
• ntdtv
• communist
• tv
• station
• burning
• burn
• fire
• fireball
• blogger
• china
• chinese
• television

[alexalexlive]

I remember to WTC 7 !?!

[frankiebones01]

I thought that was an Olympic Torch.

[ImSin2009]

chrispy

[Philly696]

wow!

[TYPICALshirley]

:(

this is insane .

[bodhisattva09]

yeah~it's really really bed (oh, I mean "bad". I just got used to Blacks' pronunciation.)

[fullspectrumfilm]

Hey guess what the building was not even designed by Asian architects. So would have to agree with wingmgwa pull yours head out of your ass.

[infundadiform]

we americans are surprised it did not fall straight to the ground like the twin towers. I guess we americans just do not know how to build buildings. Ours fall to the ground if you throw a match on them.

[glassandsteel]

Wow, no kidding that it's a bad omen for the new year. This will be the year when the yuan starts to hyper-inflate, they're forced to ditch the dollar reserves in an attempt to save it, and the dollar crashes. I can't imagine a more fitting symbol of things to come, than a $500 million building up in flames because of state-run recklessness.

[xscbr600]

so did it fall to the ground?