---
title: "China nursing home blaze kills 20; one arrested"
description: "BEIJING, April 9 (Reuters) - Twenty people were killed in a fire that broke out in an apartment for the elderly at a nursing home in China, state media said on Wednesday, while authorities arrested its owner as they investigate the cause."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Nursing home fire"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-04-09-china-nursing-home-blaze-kills-20-one-arrested/"
published: "2025-04-09T12:15:55"
updated: "2025-04-09T12:15:57"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 159
---

# China nursing home blaze kills 20; one arrested

> BEIJING, April 9 (Reuters) - Twenty people were killed in a fire that broke out in an apartment for the elderly at a nursing home in China, state media said on Wednesday, while authorities arrested its owner as they investigate the cause.

By Reuters · Published 9 April 2025, 14:15 SAST · Updated 9 April 2025, 14:15 SAST

## Key points
- In a tragic encore of fire-related calamities, a nursing home blaze in Chengde has left 19 residents seeking refuge in hospitals, while authorities scramble to extinguish the flames of negligence that have already claimed too many lives in recent years.
- A recent fire in a Chengde nursing home lasted two hours, leading to multiple hospitalizations and the arrest of the apartment owner.
- This incident follows a tragic 2023 hospital fire in the capital that claimed 26 lives and injured many others.
- Hebei has seen a troubling trend of deadly fires, including an eight-fatality incident at a vegetable market earlier this year.
- Experts are currently investigating the cause of the nursing home fire, as authorities seek to address ongoing safety concerns.

## Content

It was the latest in a series of similar incidents in recent years, including a fire at a [hospital](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N36M05U&linkedFromStory=true) in the capital in 2023 that killed 26 patients and wounded dozens.

Tuesday's fire in the city of Chengde in the northern province of Hebei blazed for two hours before it was doused, the official Xinhua news agency and the state-backed Global Times newspaper said, citing local authorities.

State broadcaster CCTV said police had arrested the owner of the apartment, while 19 residents of the home were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and observation.

Experts are visiting the nursing home to ascertain the cause, Xinhua added.

In January, eight people were killed and 15 injured in a fire at a vegetable [market](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3O0029&linkedFromStory=true) in Hebei, while a department store [fire](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AFWN3J918V&linkedFromStory=true) in the southwestern province of Sichuan killed 16 people last year.

(Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong and the Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez)