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3 arrested over fire
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POLICE have detained three staff members at a kindergarten in Jiangxi Province after 13 toddlers were killed when a fire swept through the dormitory, amid allegations carers were playing mahjong instead of watching the children.
The three were questioned about the blaze at the school in Nanchang City, the provincial capital, after it emerged the children were unsupervised when the fire broke out in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
A spokesman for the Jiangxi provincial television station, which owns the upmarket kindergarten, confirmed the arrests.
He said the three were the school's night supervisor, the teacher in charge of the class devastated by the fire and a carer who was supposed to be looking after the children during the night.
The spokesman denied press reports and allegations from residents that staff were playing mahjong when the fire broke out.
However, he said the carer had left the sleeping children unattended in the dormitory while she washed clothes in a nearby room. He also denied reports a 14th child died in hospital.
Police said the fire was ignited when cotton bedding fell off one of the children's cots onto a lighted mosquito coil.
Xinhua news agency said a carer, identified as Yang Huichen, lit three mosquito coils and placed them between the cots in the dormitory several hours before the blaze erupted.
Thirteen children aged between three and four died in the fire in the first-floor dormitory, while one child walked to safety and three others were pulled to safety.(SD-Agencies)
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