A fire at a locked poultry slaughterhouse in northeast China killed at least 113 people on Monday with several still unaccounted for, the local government and state media said, triggering online outrage at the high death toll. The fire broke out just after dawn near Dehui in Jilin province, the provincial government said on its official microblog. More than 300 workers were in the plant when the fire broke out, with employees reporting hearing a sudden bang and then seeing dark smoke, state news agency Xinhua added. "About 100 workers have managed to escape from the plant whose gate was locked when the fire occurred," Xinhua said. "The complicated interior structure of the prefabricated house in which the fire broke out and the narrow exits have added difficulties to the rescue work," it added. The exact number of people unaccounted for was unclear, as was the cause of the fire, Xinhua said. The Jilin government said 54 people were injured and had been rushed to hospital. People took to social media sites to express their anger at the fire and the high death toll.
