A fire at a shoe factory in the south-eastern Chinese city of Jinjiang has killed at least 28 people, with authorities warning the death toll could rise. The blaze broke out at around noon local time on Thursday at the Huiteng Footwear factory, one of many such facilities in Jinjiang, a city in Fujian province that is widely known as China's "shoe capital" — reportedly producing around 20% of the world's sports shoes. Dramatic footage from state media showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the building, with workers appearing to be trapped on the roof.

At the time of the fire, nearly 240 people were inside the factory — mostly workers, along with a small number of visitors. Emergency services dispatched more than 500 personnel to fight the blaze and carry out rescues, managing to evacuate 213 people. Two of those evacuated later died in hospital, while 26 others who had been reported missing were subsequently found dead inside the building. A firefighter told state broadcaster CCTV that efforts to enter and extinguish the blaze were significantly hampered by the large quantities of materials — including shoe soles and other components — that had been stacked in stairwells and throughout the building. Initial reports suggest the fire started on the ground floor, where highly flammable materials used in shoe production were stored.

Chinese authorities moved swiftly to assign accountability. The factory's owner and several other managers have been detained, and the company's bank accounts have been frozen, according to state media agency Xinhua. President Xi Jinping described the disaster as having caused "major casualties" and called for those responsible to be held "strictly accountable." He also urged officials across the country to draw "profound lessons" from what he characterised as several serious industrial safety incidents this year, demanding that "rigorous and effective safety measures" be implemented.

The Jinjiang fire comes against the backdrop of a broader push by the Chinese government to improve fire safety in multi-storey buildings, a campaign launched following a deadly blaze in Hong Kong in November that killed 168 people. The scale of Thursday's disaster — fuelled by accumulated flammable manufacturing materials and obstructed evacuation routes — underscores the persistent challenges of enforcing safety standards in large industrial facilities. Investigators have been called in to determine the precise cause of the fire.