A 6-year-old boy died in a residential fire Saturday in Jinshan district after his father got locked out of the apartment while rescuing the boy's twin brother, local media reported Sunday.
The Jinshan district fire department received a report of a fire in an apartment complex located to the west of the district government around 8:40 am, according to a news report on Shanghai Television Station.
Firefighters found the door to the apartment was locked when they arrived, said Wang Yong, a press officer with the Jinshan police. "We had to climb down from the top floor to the apartment's balcony to get inside," he told the Global Times.
The door had apparently blown closed after the father, who did not have his keys, carried one of the boys out of the apartment, Wang said.
When firefighters got into the home, they found the other boy lying unconscious on the floor. He was taken to the hospital before he expired.
His brother was uninjured.
It took firefighters about 20 minutes to get the fire under control, Shanghai Television Station reported.
Several witnesses posted on their microblogs that firefighters had to switch fire hydrants after the first ran out of water, wasting about 10 minutes.
Copyright ©1999-2011 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
