Four girls aged between one and eight were killed Monday night in a fire in a Chinese restaurant in a southern Dutch town, the Chinese embassy in The Hague told Xinhua.
The girls' father is the owner of the restaurant in the town of Arnemuiden. The girls were sleeping on the first floor when the fire broke out. But all the patrons and restaurant staff on the ground floor were safely evacuated.
The fire started from the first floor at about 7 p.m. local time on Monday, and attempts to get the girls out failed due to the ferocity of the fire, a Dutch journalist who has been following the incident told Xinhua. The fire was extinguished early Tuesday morning.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Dutch media reported that preliminary police findings showed that the fire might have been caused by the heat of electricity wires on the upper floor.
The girls, all Dutch nationals, were aged one, three, seven and eight, the Chinese embassy said. Their father is Chinese and their mother holds dual nationality of Vietnamese and Dutch.
The Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands, Xue Hanqin, has sent a message of condolences to the bereaved family, and a group of the embassy's staff members will visit the family on Wednesday.
Dutch Vice Prime Minister Wouter Bos has sent a message of condolences to the family, Dutch media reported.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article