More than 200 shops were destroyed in an early morning fire at a shopping mall in Baotou City of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a government spokesman said Monday.

The fire broke out at 6:12 AM Monday at the Guangcai shopping mall on a downtown thoroughfare in the Qingshan District of Baotou, a spokesman with the municipal government said.

Twenty-six fire trucks and more than 200 firefighters used 230 tons of water to extinguish the blaze, which was put out by 9:00 AM, the spokesman said

Six people who were on night shifts in the building escaped without injury and no casualties have been reported.

The fire destroyed 3,000 square meters of floor space in the shopping mall and burnt 200 clothing shops to ashes.

Local authorities are investigating the cause of the fire and assessing the economic losses incurred.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2007)