Three firemen died fighting a big fire Tuesday in the Ma'anshan subsidiary of China's dairy giant Mengniu Group in the eastern province of Anhui, officials said Wednesday.

The fire broke out in a cool storage Tuesday morning and spread to the northern part of the factory, damaging all the factory buildings there.

Receiving the report at 10:16 AM, the city fire brigade sent 18 fire engines and 108 firemen to put out the fire.

According to company sources, the fire brought about a loss of at least 10 million yuan (US$1.23 million ).

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2005)