BEIJING: Twelve people died Monday in a fire in a residential building in the capital of China's far-western Xinjiang region that also sent another 17 people to hospital, state-run news agency reported.
The brief dispatch said the accident occurred in Urumqi, a city of more than two million.
The fire broke out in a two-story building Monday afternoon but was extinguished about 30 minutes later, agency said.
Urumqi police told foreign news agency by phone that the cause of the fire was still being investigated.