BEIJING: Sixteen people died yesterday in a fire at a shoe factory in eastern China, state media reported, a blaze which highlights poor workplace safety standards in the country. Twenty people were rescued from the fire at the Dadong Shoes factory in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, China Central Television said in a post on its site on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. The blaze, which started in the afternoon engulfed an area of 800 square metres, said the report, which did not give details on what caused the fire.
Philippine floods toll 22
MANILA: Twenty-two people have been killed and nearly 200,000 evacuated as floods and landslides hit a southern Philippine region still recovering from a deadly 2012 typhoon, the government said yesterday. Torrential rain struck the eastern section of Mindanao island at the weekend, unleashing a fresh round of misery for survivors of Typhoon Bopha. “Major rivers overflowed, causing people to drown,” civil defence operations officer Franz Irag said. Typhoon Bopha struck the region in December, 2012. “Many victims had not managed to rebuild homes and were staying in temporary shelters when they were hit by fresh flooding,” Irag said.
Torture of maid sparks anger
HONG KONG: Migrant worker groups in Hong Kong yesterday expressed anger over the alleged torture of an Indonesian maid after reports police was not pursuing the case. Erwiana Sulistyaningsih returned home on January 10 after allegedly abused and tortured by her employer over eight months. Local migrant worker groups said the 23-year-old remained in hospital in central Java, with her condition improving.
Agencies
