By Yaruk
A fire broke out in an apartment in Urumqi city, the capital of the Chinese-occupied East Turkestan (Xinjiang). The authorities say an extension of the electrical outlet caused the fire.
The region where the fire occurred is the district of Tanrıdağ (TianShan Qu), where the Uighurs live collectively. The Chinese state media announced that ten people lost their lives and nine were injured. However, there are posts on social media platforms that this number is more than 40.
The residents, who lost their lives in the fire, had been confined to their homes for more than 100 days under the pretext of Covid quarantine. Videos on social media say that when the victims tried to escape, they could not exit because the apartment and building doors were closed with large locks from the outside.
A Chinese citizen briefly summarizes the event in a video she shared:
“I am Chinese from Xinjiang, but I don’t want to be from there anymore. Last night, around 8:00 pm on November 24, a massive fire broke out in a multi-story residential building in the Jixiangyuan Community in the Tanridag district of Urumqi city. The media reported: Ten people died in the fire, and nine were seriously injured. The residential building in question is a low-risk building. Residents can now freely leave the building and move around.”
“This news sounded like a joke to me”, she says. “I’m so angry and in so much pain. How about the facts? I want to tell everyone the truth: The building in question is in a high-risk area. The Xinjiang health Headquarters caused such a disaster. In high-risk areas, the doors of buildings and apartments are completely closed. People can not open the door of the apartment and go out. There are also many barriers around the building. After the fire broke out, firefighters were only able to come to this building half an hour later. Then only after struggling for more than two hours, could they break through these barriers. The cars in the building courtyard were also not in use, as the compound had been closed for more than 100 days, hence the cars did not start immediately. Some car owners were also in their homes in quarantine. All these reasons delayed the extinguishing of the fire. As a result, ten people died, and nine were seriously injured. Both of them are innocent children.”
“Who will be responsible for these people’s lives? They calmly waited in their house for more than 100 days. They left like this before they could see the doors open and even leave the building and breathe freely in the pure air.”
Despite all the pressures of the local government, the Uyghurs are trying to publicize the injustice they have suffered through various methods. The Chinese used to keep their silence. This time, the Chinese, who have not lost their human dignity, started to share the truth, albeit in small numbers.
Information on social media reinforces that the death toll is more than 40.
The truth will certainly come to the fore in the coming days.