---
title: "At least 28 killed in a shoe factory fire in China's footwear capital"
description: "A fire tore through a shoe factory in the eastern Chinese city of Jinjiang, killing at least 28 people, in one of the country's deadliest industrial blazes in years. Rescuers pulled more than 200 workers from the building, and President Xi Jinping demanded that those responsible be held to account."
category: "World"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/world
author: "Simone Bishop"
published: 2026-07-10T06:54:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-10T06:54:00.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/at-least-28-killed-in-a-shoe-factory-fire-in-chinas-footwear-capital
tags: ["china", "fire", "industrial-safety", "jinjiang", "disaster"]
---
# At least 28 killed in a shoe factory fire in China's footwear capital

A fire tore through a shoe factory in the eastern Chinese city of Jinjiang, killing at least 28 people, in one of the country's deadliest industrial blazes in years. Rescuers pulled more than 200 workers from the building, and President Xi Jinping demanded that those responsible be held to account.

A fire at a shoe factory in southeastern China killed at least 28 people on Thursday, one of the deadliest industrial accidents the country has seen in years.

## What happened

The blaze broke out around midday at a footwear factory in Jinjiang, a city in Fujian province known as a center of China's shoe industry, [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/9/at-least-28-people-killed-as-fire-engulfs-shoe-factory-in-china). Authorities said 239 people were inside when the fire started, most of them factory workers, and that rescuers managed to get 213 of them out. At least 28 were confirmed dead. As with any disaster still under investigation, officials cautioned the toll could change.

The fire is believed to have begun on the ground floor, where the plant stored the kinds of flammable materials common to shoe manufacturing, which helped it spread quickly through the building. Hundreds of firefighters and dozens of emergency vehicles were sent to the scene, and most of the flames were brought under control by evening.

## The response

The scale of the loss drew a response from the top of China's government. President Xi Jinping ordered an all-out rescue effort and said the cause "should be identified as soon as possible" and that "those responsible must be strictly held accountable," [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/9/at-least-28-people-killed-as-fire-engulfs-shoe-factory-in-china). The country's emergency-management ministry coordinated the response and pressed for the search to continue.

## A pattern of industrial fires

The disaster lands at a sensitive moment. It comes only months after a devastating high-rise fire elsewhere in the region killed scores of people, an event that had already pushed Chinese authorities to launch a fresh safety campaign. Deadly factory and building fires have recurred in China despite repeated crackdowns, often tied to blocked exits, stored flammable materials and gaps in enforcement, the same hazards that make a blaze at a crowded manufacturing plant so lethal.

For now, the focus in Jinjiang is on accounting for everyone who was inside and on the families waiting for word. The investigation into how a fire could kill so many, so fast, is only beginning.