Death toll rises to 120 in China's poultry plant fire

The death toll from the fire at a poultry plant in northeast China's Jilin province had risen to 120 with about 70 people injured.

The fire broke out on Monday at a poultry-processing workshop owned by the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company in Mishazi Township in the city of Dehui, about 100 km northeast of the provincial capital Changchun.

Over 300 workers were in the plant when the accident happened, survivors were quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency as saying. About 100 workers managed to escape from the plant, the gate of which was locked when the fire broke out, they added.

Established in September 2009, Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company has 1,200 employees and an annual output of 67,000 tonnes of chicken products.

The Chinese government has ordered an investigation into the incident.

Image: Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in Dehui, Jilin province | Photograph: Reuters