'Shanghai high-rise apartment building fire could have been completely avoided'

Shanghai, Nov 18(ANI): Investigators probing the fire that ravaged a Shanghai high-rise apartment building, killing at least 53 people, have said that the fire was completely avoidable.

Luo Lin, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, said that an energy-saving project that used illegal contracts, unsafe materials and unqualified workers was mainly to blame for the fire that gutted the 28-story building on Monday.

"The accident should not have happened and could have been completely avoided," the China Daily quoted Lin, as saying.

According to reports, sparks from welding torches of four unlicensed workers had ignited flammable nylon webbing and bamboo scaffolding that sheathed the building, rapidly engulfing it in flames.

Earlier, eight people were detained for causing the disaster, ur of them were unlicensed welders. (ANI)