Two Fires Kill 92 People in China

BEIJING — A fire at a crowded shopping mall killed at least 53 people Sunday in China’s northeast, while 39 died in a blaze in a makeshift temple near Shanghai, state-run media said.

The shopping center fire broke out on the second floor of the five-story Zhongbai Building in Jilin, a city about 600 miles northeast of Beijing, the official New China News Agency reported. It said the blaze apparently began in a storeroom next to a boiler room. About 70 people were injured, the agency said. Newspapers said at least 20 people jumped from upper floors of the mall after the fire erupted.

The other fire broke out in Wufeng, a village about 60 miles southwest of Shanghai. A preliminary police report today blamed the blaze on “negligence in worship activities,” the news agency said. The report did not elaborate and said investigations were ongoing.

Early reports called the building a temple, but New China News Agency said it was a “straw shed being used for superstitious activities” -- meaning unauthorized worship.