BEIJING: 10 people died as a result of a huge fire at a hotel in eastern China, agencies said on Saturday. The blaze broke out on Saturday morning at the four-storey HNA Platinum Mix Hotel in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, and took nearly two hours to extinguish. Over 260 residents of a 24-storey apartment building connected to the hotel were evacuated. Footage of the incident showed smoke coming out from the windows and rising to towering heights Firefighters were busy shooting jets of water at smoking, cracked wall panels, and working in teams to help unconscious victims. Three of 16 people rushed to hospitals were pronounced dead during treatment, and firefighters found seven bodies amid the hotel debris. The fire was caused by the “cutting of decoration materials”, sources cited initial investigations as saying, without providing further detail. Seven people have also been taken into police custody and investigation is being carried out. Fire safety procedures are routinely ignored in China, with exit doors often locked and escape passages blocked in buildings across the country. Earlier this month, 18 people were killed when a foot massage parlour caught fire in the eastern province of Zhejiang, similarly seven died in a fire in an elderly care centre last month.