Papua New Guinea supermarket fire kills 10: Reports
25 Sept 2017 10:51 PM IST
Sydney: Ten people believed to be Chinese died when a supermarket caught fire in Papua New Guinea while they were sleeping, reports and officials said on Monday.
The disaster at the Splendid Star shop was made worse by the lack of any proper fire-fighting equipment in Manus province in the impoverished Pacific nation's north, where the blaze started early Friday.
The dead included six women and four men.
Manus provincial police commander Chief Inspector David Yapu said the fire in Lorengau town quickly engulfed the building, trapping the 10 inside.
"The fire spread out quickly to the other parts of the supermarket and into the bedrooms where the 10 were sleeping," Yapu told The National newspaper.
"The six females and four males were trapped in the building and burnt to death."
The cause of the fire is not known.
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