Arson fire kills 10, injures 8 in east China

BEIJING, Apr 29 (Reuters) An arsonist in eastern China set fire to a migrant workers' dormitory, killing 10 people including five who jumped to their deaths, state media said today.

The blaze started at about 0500 hrs yesterday in a dormitory of a bathroom supply company in Wenzhou city in Zhejiang province, the Beijing News said.

Five of the migrant workers, from all over China, died of their injuries after leaping six stories to the ground, it said. Eight were injured, none of them critically.

Police detained a 32-year-old man who also worked for the company and concluded he had intentionally started the fire, the Beijing News said. It gave no specific motive.

More than 230,000 fires claimed nearly 2,500 lives in China last year, the Public Security Ministry said.

A hospital fire in the northeastern province of Jilin killed 39 people -- mostly patients -- in December and at least 26 Christmas revellers died after a blaze gutted a bar in the southern province of Guangdong on Christmas day.

REUTERS SHB HT1115