Rescuers save 10 trapped by fire

Emergency responders rescued 10 residents, including three Koreans, from an apartment building fire in Minhang district late Monday, local media reported Tuesday.

One resident remained in the hospital Tuesday with injuries to his head and neck, Shanghai Television Station reported.

The hospitalized resident lived in the apartment where the fire started. Police said that the fire broke out in an apartment on the 10th floor of a 12-floor building in the Grand Shanghai International Garden compound, according to the news portal xinmin.cn. They suspect the fire may have been caused by a gas explosion.

A resident who lives on the building's 12th floor told the Global Times that his family heard a loud bang and the sound of breaking glass around 10 pm Monday.

The fire started in apartment 1002, said a senior employee surnamed Zhuang from the compound's neighborhood committee. Although it did not spread to any other apartment, the flames and smoke trapped some residents on the building's three highest floors.

"There were Korean residents trapped in the apartment next door," Zhuang told the Global Times. "The heat warped their door so they couldn't open it. They were saved by firefighters and a medical emergency crew."

The emergency responders arrived at the scene several minutes after the fire started, Zhuang said. A witness told xinmin.cn that the firefighters pumped water from an artificial fountain to put out the blaze.

Zhuang said he accompanied fire investigators to the apartment Tuesday morning, where they found a makeshift gas line stretching from the kitchen to the bedroom. They did not immediately determine its purpose.