Beijing CCTV Annex on fire!

A fire has destroyed the annex of CCTV new headquaters in Beijing an hour ago. I was chatting with a friend based in Beijing and he told me CCTV was on fire. At the same time, I was in Twitter and Micro bloggers from Twitter are reporting the news. Not only did Twitter get the news before mainstream media, it seems as if it got the news before emergency services. I read it was cause by unregulated Chinese New Year fireworks. According to Reuters, the destroyed building housed the Mandarin Oriental hotel in eastern Beijing, which was supposed to open in 2009.

You can read the news here: CNN, Reuters, Asia-Pacific News, and Xinhuanet.

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7 Comments
Comment by Emm
2009-02-10 00:17:59

Bad news about the fire…

…but wow! Your new blog layout is amazing!!!!!!!!

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Comment by Bibi Liew
2009-02-10 15:01:36

Thanks Emm!!

I read the shocking news this morning that a firefighter was dead after battling the new hotel blaze.

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Comment by Shanghainerd
2009-02-10 19:23:56

It’s an amazing building. Hope everyone is safe!

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Comment by Karen
2009-02-10 19:25:29

I just have to say it’s kinda sad as I thought the architecture was weirdly awesome!!

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2009-02-11 00:16:31

[...] dollar modernist architecture unveiled for 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing is now an eyesore. The blaze renderes the 31 story structure unuseable, as the titamium alloy and zinc of the outer structure [...]

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Comment by China Doll
2009-02-11 00:59:12

They should ban fireworks like HK! but at least the boot wasn’t officially in use.

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Comment by Bibi Liew
2009-02-11 11:54:02

@Shanghainerd
A fireman died and 7 was injured!

@Karen
Yeah… it was said that CCTV hired a firework company to set off hundreds of large firecrackers outside the building. The wind was strong and the fire facilities inside the building have not been put into use yet.

@China Doll
well, 1 country, 2 systems!

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