Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment students calmly evacuate a university canteen while still holding plates of food in their hands as a kitchen bursts into flames just inches away.
Xihua University, based in the city of Chengdu in south-western China’s Sichuan Province, said just over 50 square feet of its second canteen was damaged by the blaze on 29th October.
The suspected accident happened as the canteen was packed with students during lunch hour, after a small fire started in one of the booth’s kitchens and escalated into a serious fire scare.
Staff members performed an emergency shutdown of the dining hall’s power as well as its natural gas supply.
Students in the middle of their meals were then ordered to evacuate the canteen, but images taken by some in the canteen at the time show young men and women casually shuffling out of the dining hall while still holding plates of unfinished food in their hands.
Incredibly, this happens as the fire rages out of control in the background, with one image showing a student still sitting at his table when the restaurant’s kitchen is engulfed in flames.
Xihua University said its staff members dealt with the fire shortly afterwards, and no one was harmed during the accident.
The fire service had arrived on scene and was investigating the cause of the blaze.
Social media users on Weibo – China’s equivalent to Twitter – left thousands of comments about the university students’ apparent leisurely attitude to evacuating during the fire.
‘Fange De Lan’wrote: “How is one meant to fight the fire on an empty stomach?”
‘Zheng Gang’ added: “People need to eat, right?”
Commenting an image showing the dumpling booth ablaze, ‘Daxue Xiaoyuan Bot’ said: “Young man, your fried dumplings are ready.”
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