Headphone factory owner detained after fire kills 13 in south China

A rescuer performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a worker after pulling her out of a factory fire in Shantou, south China's Guangdong province, May 21, 2009. [Xinhua]

SHANTOU, Guangdong, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Peixiong, owner of a headphone factory in Shantou of Guangdong Province in south China, was detained after a fire which killed 13 female workers, according to local police Thursday.

The factory was unlicensed and did not have safety exits, police said.

So far, Zhang has not been charged with anything as an investigation is ongoing.

According to a firefighter, dormitories for the female workers' had wooden doors.

"If the doors were better, or fire-proof, they might repel some of the smoke and win us some time to save more lives," he said.

"The doors were blocked by fire and we had to pry open a window," said a 17-year-old worker surnamed Yao.

Fire started in the five-storey factory building at 7:26 a.m. Thursday on the ground floor which was storing sponges used for headphone production. It destroyed about 202 square meters of the building.

Thirteen female workers, who lived on the fourth floor, died of smoke inhalation. Fifteen other workers were hospitalized, including three in serious condition.

Two of the victims were from the southwestern Guizhou Province, one was from eastern Jiangxi Province. The other 10 were natives in Guangdong.

The building was constructed in 2005 and production started in August 2007.