China captures arson suspect in karaoke lounge blaze that killed 18

Man blocked sole entrance of KTV lounge with motorbike before setting it ablaze

The scene of the fire: police in Qingyuan caught the suspect after a reward was issued for information on his whereabouts (Xinhua News Agency/AP)

Police in southern China on Tuesday captured a man suspected to have started a blaze in a karaoke TV lounge that killed 18 people, shortly after authorities offered a reward for information on his whereabouts.

The fire, in the city of Qingyuan in Guangdong province, broke out just after midnight in a three-storey building, police said on their official account on China’s Weibo (equivalent to Twitter), adding that five people were injured.

Police investigating the case as suspected arson said they had captured the man, a 32-year-old with the surname Liu, in a nearby village.

“The suspect in the arson case, Liu Chunlu ... has been successfully captured,” police said on Weibo.

A reward of 200,000 yuan (£22,700) had been offered to anyone who provided information leading to the capture.

Police in Qingyuan could not be reached immediately for further comment.

The man had blocked the sole entrance of the KTV lounge with a motorbike before setting it ablaze, state broadcaster CCTV said in a Weibo post. The suspect had suffered burns to his waist, police added.

China has a patchy safety record on building regulations.

Authorities in Beijing launched a 40-day “special operation” targeting fire code and building safety violations after an apartment fire last November killed 19 people, almost all migrants.

In 2013, a fire at a poultry processing plant in the north-eastern province of Jilin led to 121 deaths.

Reuters