Beijing Fire Destroys New Tower, Celebration Continues Anyway
The to-be-opened Mandarin Oriental Hotel exploded with flames after it caught on fire at 8:27 p.m. Beijing time in Beijing’s densely populated central business district.
Investigators are still unsure how the fire exactly started but one rumor is that festive fireworks could be the culprit.
From today’s WSJ:
Flames and occasional explosions leapt high into the sky as black smoke poured from the 159-meter tower, which sits just north of the main CCTV building, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. The inferno began as the skies over Beijing were filled with fireworks set off to celebrate the last day of the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year festival. It wasn’t immediately clear whether fireworks caused the disaster.
The ruined building was set to house the flagship hotel in China of Mandarin Oriental International Ltd., an Asian luxury chain. The building was also supposed to house a concert hall.
Even after the fire was engulfing the building celebratory fireworks for the Chinese Lunar New Year festival were still being fired off near the building. Go figure.
Picture below from Reuters:
***2/10/09 UPDATE*** Guilty party comes forward, “National broadcaster China Central Television said a fireworks display organized by one of its own employees set off a blaze that destroyed a 44-story building adjacent to its iconic new headquarters in Beijing.” Read the full WSJ post.
Source:
Fire Destroys New Beijing Tower
Mei Fong and Jason Dean
WSJ, February 9th, 2009, 2:44 PM EST
