Forty-two people were killed in a fire that broke out on Monday in an apartment block in downtown Shanghai, Xinhua said.
The 28-story building in Jing'an District was under reconstruction when it caught fire at about 2:00 pm local time (18:00 GMT). Ninety people have been hospitalized, the news agency said.
It took firefighters several hours to put out the blaze, which engulfed most of the building.
The cause of the fire has not yet been established, but a witness said he saw construction materials burning on scaffolding on the building.
BEIJING, November 15 (RIA Novosti)