Located near Jingguang Bridge road, a newly-built structure within China's Central Television compound is ablaze in Beijing at 9 p.m. on Monday, February 9, 2009. Traffic police are controlling traffic around nearby roads. [Xinhua]

China Central Television (CCTV) on Tuesday apologized for a massive fire that engulfed part of its new headquarters in the eastern central business district of the capital.

The fire broke out on Monday evening, and one firefighter was killed tackling the blaze and seven other people were injured.

In a statement on its website www.cctv.com, the broadcaster said it "feels sorrowful for the great loss that the fire inflicted on national assets. CCTV sincerely apologizes for the traffic congestion and inconvenience that affect residents nearby."

CCTV has been responsible for the fire, the city's fire control authorities said Tuesday.

CCTV hired staff from a fireworks company to ignite several hundred large festive firecrackers in an open space outside one of its nearly-completed buildings, said Luo Yuan, spokesman and deputy chief of Beijing Fire Control Bureau.

The 30-storey building, about 200 meters from the iconic CCTV main tower, houses the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel, a television studio and an electronic data processing center.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2009)