“Suspects responsible for the fire have been detained,” a local government official was quoted as saying, adding that the cause of the blaze was under investigation.

No further details of the suspects were given, or say whether they had been charged.

It said the privately-run dance hall on the fourth floor of a department store was operating illegally.

All the victims were suffocated in the blaze, which took three hours to extinguish.

Local television reports earlier pinned blame for the fire on “careless” renovation in the basement of the six-storey building, a maze of shops and narrow corridors which failed a fire safety test just a week ago.

Residents said emergency exits in the building were blocked by boxes of merchandise.

Put up in the late 1980s, the glass-fronted building with stone colonnades had foam extinguishers but no sprinkler system or fire and smoke alarms, tenants said. Residents said building managers had promised to improve safety.

According to previous reports, all those killed were trapped in the dimly-lit disco, which was throwing a special Christmas party packed with mostly young people.

The fire highlighted a chronic safety problem in many of the Chinese public buildings.

It was said that the Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday released an urgent circular ordering all discos and dance halls operating without a licence or fire control systems to be closed immediately.

Hotels, shopping malls, hospitals and schools should be checked for fire dangers, the notice said.

Local governments should “spare no efforts to ensure safety during the New Year’s Day and the Spring Festival holidays”, the circular said. Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, falls next year at the end of January.

“Substandard fire and alarm systems should be improved,” the notice warned.

China has issued such warnings in the past, but apparently with little effect.

Witnesses said the popular Dongdu Disco was dark and music was blaring, so many party-goers were unaware they were in danger until it was too late.

Panic erupted as smoke engulfed the dance floor, according to witnesses.

A handful of survivors managed to throw themselves from windows onto air mats laid out on the streets below by rescue services.

The shopping center is in the old section of Luoyang, an ancient former capital of China located just south of the Yellow River.

(China Daily 12/27/2000)