Fire accidents killed 1,106 people and injured another 572 in China last year, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement Thursday. In 2011, a total of 125,402 fire accidents were reported and they resulted in direct economic losses valued at 1.88 billion yuan (297 million U.S. dollars), registering year-on-year drop of 5.4 percent and 4.1 percent respectively, Xinhua quoted the statement as saying. The number of deaths and injuries decreased by 8.2 percent and 8.3 percent compared with that of 2010, it said. Among the accidents, more than one-third happened in homes and 13,049 in vehicles, it added. Electrical failure was among the top causes and fires caused by fireworks increased in 2011. Firefighters were dispatched on 656,000 missions last year and rescued 129,000 people, according to the ministry.
