A total of 691 people died in fire accidents in last seven months, Xinhua quoted a notice released by China's Public Security Ministry on Monday. More than 82,000 fire accidents were reported. Both the death toll and the number of accidents number was down compared with last year, 25.1 and 6.4 percent each, the notice said. Fires injured 338 people and the economic loss reached 770 million yuan (113 million U.S. dollars), it said. Malfunction of electric lines and electrical equipment led to most of the fires, accounting for 28 percent of the total number, it read. Though the number of accidents number decreased, July saw an increase of 12.4 percent year on year. There were 8,500 fires and 39 deaths, according to the statement. The blaze occurred at the new China Central Television headquarters on February 9 was not included in the total figure as the final report has yet to be published, the ministry said.
