Night fire destroys ancient Tibetan town in China
Associated Press/By DIDI TANG 48 minutes ago
Raw: 10 Hour Inferno Razes Tibetan Town
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BEIJING
(AP) — A fire that raged for nearly 10 hours Saturday razed an ancient
Tibetan town in southwest China that's popular with tourists, burning
down hundreds of buildings as fire engines were unable to get onto the
narrow streets, state media and witnesses said.
There was no
immediate report of casualties, and the cause of the fire was unclear.
State media, citing local authorities, said the blaze started in a
guesthouse and was ruled accidental.
The fire broke out at 1:27
a.m. in the ancient Tibetan quarter of Dukezong, which dates back more
than 1,000 years and is known for its preserved cobbled streets, ancient
structures and Tibetan culture. It is part of scenic Shangri-La county
in Deqen prefecture.
Once called Gyaitang Zong, the county in
2001 renamed itself Shangri-La, hoping to draw tourists by the reference
to the mythical Himalayan land described in James Hilton's 1933 novel.
Like hundreds of Chinese cities and counties, Shangri-La renovated its
old neighborhood, Dukezong, turning it into a tourist attraction filled
with shops and guesthouses.
Photos and video footage showed Dukezong and its labyrinth of houses engulfed in flames that turned the night sky red.
The
fire destroyed about 242 houses and shops in Dukezong, dislocated more
than 2,600 people, and torched many historic artifacts, the official
Xinhua News Agency said.
View gallery
A firefighter works on a roof of a wooden building while a fire ravages ancient Dukezong town
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He Yu, a resident, said she woke to loud, explosion-like sounds to find the old town on fire.
"The
fire was huge," she said. "The wind was blowing hard, and the air was
dry. I was scared because my home is a little distance away from the
ancient town. It kept burning, and the firefighters were there, but
there was little they could do because they could not get the fire
engines onto the old town's narrow streets."
With fire engines
kept out, local residents lined up to pass buckets of water to combat
the fire, the Deqen prefecture government said.
Most of the
buildings were made of wood and the fire spread easily because of dry
weather, state-run China Central Television said.
More than 2,000
firefighters, soldiers, police, local officials and volunteers
responded to the blaze and brought it under control at around 11 a.m.,
the Shangri-La county government said.