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BEIJING: A firefighter died on Tuesday after battling a blaze that engulfed a luxury hotel being built near China's iconic state television headquarters in central Beijing, state media reported.
Six other people were injured in Monday night's fire that consumed the Mandarin Oriental Hotel within the complex housing the future base of China Central Television (CCTV), Xinhua news agency said.
Zhang Jianyong died early on Tuesday morning at a hospital in Beijing from toxic gases he inhaled while fighting the fire, Xinhua said, citing the city's fire control authorities.
A statement on the Mandarin Oriental's website said there was no-one in the building at the time of the fire, indicating the death toll was unlikely to climb sharply.
The hotel was just a few hundred metres (yards) from the showpiece 234-metre CCTV tower designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.
CCTV reported that the fire was brought under control by fire crews nearly four hours after it erupted.
Xinhua quoted a city government spokesman as saying initial reports indicated firecrackers set off to celebrate the Lunar New Year, China's most important annual festival, had caused the fire.
Firefighters found remnants of firecrackers on the roof of the burning building, Xinhua said.
The agency had earlier quoted a witness saying the blaze appeared to have been sparked after fireworks landed on top of the hotel building.
The fire sent flames, billowing clouds of sparks and a huge column of smoke high into the night sky over the eastern portion of the Chinese capital, drawing thousands of picture-snapping spectators.
- AFP/yb
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