Chinese disco fire kills 309

　　Chinese police have made arrests following a Christ mas day fire in the city of Luoyang that killed 309 peo ple, most of them 309 people, most of them revelers(狂欢者 ) in a disco.

　　All the victims were suffocated in the blaze, which took three hours to extinguish.

　　Local television reports earlier pinned blame for t he fire on "careless" renovation in the basement of the six-story building, a maze of shops and narrow corridor s which failed a fire safety test just a week ago.

　　Residents said emergency exits in the building were blocked by boxes of merchandise(商品).

　　Put up in the late 1980s, the glass-fronted buildin g with stone colonnades(柱廊)had foam extinguishers but n o sprinkler system or fire and smoke alarms, tenants sa id. Residents said building managers had promised to im prove safety.

　　It's said all those killed were trapped in the diml y-lit disco, which was throwing a special Christmas par ty packed with mostly young people.

　　The fire highlighted a chronic safety problem in ma ny of China's public buildings.

　　The Ministry of Public Security released an urgent circular ordering all discos and dance halls operating without a license or fire control systems to be closed immediately.

　　Hotels, shopping malls, hospitals and schools shoul d be checked for fire dangers, the notice said.

　　China has issued such warnings in the past, but app arently with little effect. Pervasive(普遍深入的)corruption means local officials often turn a blind eye to safety breaches.

　　Witnesses said the popular Dongdu Disco was dark an d music was blaring so many party—goers were unaware th ey were in danger until it was too late. Panic erupted as smoke engulfed the dance floor.

　　A handful of survivors managed to throw themselves from windows onto air mats laid out on the streets belo w by rescue services.

　　The shopping center is in the old section of Luoyan g, an ancient former capital of China located just sout h of the Yellow River.

　　The worst fire in China occurred in 1977 when 694 p eople —597 of them children —died in Xinjiang.

　　A dance hall fire in 1994 in the northeastern provi nce of Liaoning killed 233 people, many of them crushed to death or asphyxiated(窒息) behind emergency exits that were chained shut.

　　By Andrew Browne