Six workers were killed in a fire that tore through the ground floor of a six-storey building in Chifeng, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Tuesday.

The fire started at about 1:55 PM on Tuesday inside the main hall of a shop, on the ground floor, selling workplace safety products - Tequan Labor Safety Goods Co Ltd - in Hongshan District, and spread rapidly, trapping employees inside, the Chifeng City Bureau of Public Security said.

The other floors of the building contain residential apartments but no one living there was hurt as the fire was extinguished in more than two hours and didn't cause much damage to the rest of the building, according to the police.

While searching through the debris, fire fighters and police found five bodies. One person who was injured in the blaze was sent to the nearest hospital, but later died. The dead were confirmed to be five women and one man.

The cause of the fire is under further investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2007)