Fire Kills 119 in Chinese Poultry Plant

In northeastern China, at least 119 people have died on Monday after workers got trapped in a slaughterhouse with only one open exit.

The Associated Press reported that the workers, who were mostly women, tried to get to the door through smoke and flames to reach doors that were locked or blocked. Guo Yan who was one of the workers who escaped said that she ran to an emergency exit but it couldn't be opened and she was knocked to the ground by other workers desperately trying to escape.

"I could only crawl desperately forward," Guo said to the official Xinhua News Agency. "I worked alongside an old lady and a young girl, but I don't know if they survived or not."

CCTV reported that workers said that the fire broke out during a shift change when there were about 350 workers were at the plant which is owned by Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co.

There were also dozens injured in the fire that occurred in Jilin province's Mishazi township. The AP reported that the fire department in the area said that the blasts were because of an ammonia leak as the ammonia is kept pressurized as part of the cooling system in the meat processing plant.

"The fire broke out in a factory building where chickens were being dismembered, and spread rapidly, with industrial boilers exploding, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported on its microblog. Only a side door to the building was open with the rest of the exits locked, the newspaper said," reported the AP.

54 people were in the hospital and 119 people were killed, reported the provincial government on its microblog. Most of those injured were being treated for inhalation of toxic gases and burns.

The AP reported that by noon the fire had been mostly extinguished by firefighters.