Seven people are dead and one injured after a fire at a market in east China's Jiangxi Province on Monday.

Three houses were destroyed in the blaze, which broke out at about 5:00 a.m. at a market in the Xingguo County of Jiangxi, a local government spokesman said.

The fire was extinguished at 6:50 a.m., the spokesman said.

The losses are still being assessed and the cause of the fire is under investigation, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)