A massive fire engulfed a 42-story skyscraper in the Chinese city of Changsha on Friday afternoon.
Large clouds of smoke streamed from the building, a regional office for China Telecom, to the point where videos on social media appeared to show flames completely engulfing one side of the building, according to the BBC. One video shows people fleeing the area as debris falls from above.
Authorities in a statement said they were notified of the fire at 3:48 p.m. local time before state media broadcaster CCTV announced the flames extinguished as of 4:20 p.m. local time, according to CNN. Changsha Fire and Rescue responded to the fire with 36 fire engines and 280 firefighters.
There are currently no reported casualties and the cause of the fire remains unknown, according to the BBC.
A massive fire has engulfed a high-rise office building in Changsha, capital of China’s southern province of Hunan.
State media said the fire has been put out, but said that casualty numbers are not known yet ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Bze6ONd4G9
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 16, 2022
Construction on the building, located near a prominent ring road in the city, was completed in 2000, BBC reported. Situated in the southern Hunan province, Changsha is home to 10 million residents. (RELATED: London Is Burning: Footage Shows Wildfires Erupting Along Motorway In UK Capital)
China Telecom, known to be associated with the expansion of Chinese influence overseas, partnered with American telecom provider AT&T and previously faced scrutiny from the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) over potential security risks to American communications.