A commercial building fire has killed four kids aged between 9 and 16 of a stall owner in a south China city early Thursday morning, authorities said.

The fire broke out at around 0:40 AM in the first floor of the four-story commercial building in Wuchuan, a city in Guangdong Province, witnesses said, adding that they did not sleep then and called the police immediately.

The fire spread quickly because many stalls in the first floor had clothes and small commodities to be sold, witnesses said, and the four kids of a stall owner surnamed Kang were sleeping in the locked stall, their parents were both absent.

Kang's wife, who was found drinking night tea outside the commercial building by her neighbors, went back to her stall at once and tried to rescue her kids but was stopped by neighbors for the fire was very big.

Local firefighters put out the fire at around 2 AM and the fire did not spread to the second floor, a furniture market.

The commercial building was built and put into operation in 1994 with a total floor space of 70,000 square meters.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, local police said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2005)