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Fire breaks out at one of China’s biggest power plants
PUBLISHED : Friday, 13 March, 2015, 6:57pm
UPDATED : Friday, 13 March, 2015, 7:41pm
Laura Zhou
[email protected]
Smoke rises from the Huaneng power plant in Beijing. Photo: Reuters
A large fire broke out at one of China’s biggest power plants on Friday afternoon, near to the annual parliamentary meetings in Beijing.
Twenty teams of firefighters, 91 fire engines and scores of police arrived at the scene shortly after the fire broke out just before 3pm, taking about an hour to extinguish the flames, state news agency Xinhua said.
One of four generators at the plant near the east fifth ring road had caught fire, confirmed China Huaneng Group, the country’s top power producer. The remaining three were shut down as a safety precaution, it added.
Firemen control the fire at a coal power plant while many fire engines await order in the street in Beijing. Photo: EPA
Photos circulating on social media showed thick black smoke billowing high above the coal-fired station.
Local police and security authorities were on high alert as the fire came shortly before the closing ceremony of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
No casualties have been reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
The power plant, in operation since 2009, is one of the biggest in the country and generates 10 per cent of the city’s electricity. The Beijing Evening News said it was unclear how the city’s supplies would be affected.
