A sudden raging fire in a four-story bustling shopping mall in Jilin City of northeast China's Jilin Province Sunday noon killed 53 people and injured another 71, police said.

The fire, which is believed to be China's most devastating accident so far this year, started at 11:20 a.m. on the second floor of the city's Zhongbai Shopping Mall where many people were doing their weekend shopping.

Of the 71 injured people, 13 were in critical conditions, while 28 among the dead were male, doctors said.

About 260 firefighters and 60 fire engines were mobilized to fight the fire which was extinguished at about 3:30 p.m.

A special investigation team headed by Sun Huashan, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, also rushed from Beijing to the fire scene Sunday night.

Senior officials including Wang Yunkun, Party secretary of Jilin, and Hong Hu, the provincial governor, had expressed their concern and called for every effort to rescue those injured.

By 4:30 p.m., 120 people were rescued with rescue workers and firefighters still searching for any survivors.

Preliminary investigation indicated the fire started from a temporary storehouse at the building's rear that nears a boiler room, and local police had summoned 36 people, including the center's security officers and the worker in the boiler room for questioning.

Built in the 1990s, the four-story shopping center at a downtown crossroads linking two major streets accommodates 111 shops and about 120 shopkeepers within an area of some 4,000 square meters.

The first and second floors of the building were for shopping, the third was a bathhouse, the fourth for billiard games and a disco.

Niu Haijun, vice governor, led a team of governmental officials to the site for rescue work and investigation of the cause.

Rescue work and investigation of the cause of the fire still continue.

At least 39 pilgrims were killed and four others injured by a temple fire in Haining City of east China's Zhejiang Province, only three hours after the blaze that killed 53 in northeast China, local officials said.

The fire at a temple at the city's Wufeng Village of Huangwan Town occurred at about 2:15 p.m. when pilgrims were worshipping.

The fire was extinguished about half an hour later at 2:45 p.m., police said.

By press time, 39 bodies had been found and four injured people were rescued.

Senior officials including provincial Governor Lu Zushan, vice governors Zhang Mengjin and Wang Yongming, and director of the Zhejiang Province Department of Public Security Wang Huizhong had rushed to the scene to investigate and guide the rescue work.

The search for survivors and clean-up work still continue while the cause for the fire is under investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2004)