China police chief calls for Shanghai fire inquiry
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China's police chief has called for a thorough inquiry into the cause of a fire in a Shanghai high-rise building that killed at least 49 people.
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu said those responsible would be punished, state media reported.
The 28-storey block of flats which housed teachers, many of them retired, was being renovated when it caught fire on Monday afternoon.
Firefighters battled for several hours to bring the blaze under control.
More than 80 fire engines were brought in and hoses had to be set-up on top of a nearby building to reach the flames.
Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote She called her husband and said: 'It's on fire! I have escaped from the 22nd floor to the 24th floor', but then the phone got cut off and that was the last we heard from her” End Quote Wang Zhiliang Father of missing person
Chinese TV showed people clinging to bamboo scaffolding surrounding the building as they waited to be rescued.
Mr Meng flew into Shanghai from Beijing in the early hours of Tuesday to guide rescue and relief work.
He urged local authorities to help find those still missing and to ensure the public received up-to-date information about what happened, Xinhua news agency reported.
Mr Meng said lessons should be learned to prevent similar accidents and announced that an investigation team would report directly to the Chinese cabinet.
BBC Shanghai correspondent Chris Hogg says the minister appeared to be trying to pre-empt concerns of a cover-up or an attempt by those responsible to escape justice.
According to one witness the fire started in a pile of construction materials.
It spread quickly up the bamboo scaffolding and then set the building alight.
Flames could be seen licking the sides of the building, and a thick pall of smoke was visible several miles away.
Some survivors escaped by clambering down the scaffolding, while others struggled down smoke-filled stairwells.
Witnesses reported distressing scenes at hospitals where relatives desperately searched for missing loved ones.
At Jing'an hospital, Wang Zhiliang, 65, scoured a list of survivors for his daughter's name.
"She called her husband and said: 'It's on fire! I have escaped from the 22nd floor to the 24th floor', but then the phone got cut off and that was the last we heard from her," he said.
More than 150 families lived in the block. Officials said more than 100 people had been rescued.
Local hospitals said they had treated at least 90, some of them seriously injured.
The number of casualties may increase as rescuers and investigators search the ruins of the apartment block, our correspondent says.
Jing'an district government is housing residents affected by the fire in nearby hotels, Xinhua reported.
One of China's commercial hubs, Shanghai has some 20m residents and has seen a frenzy of construction work in recent years.
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China's  said Tuesday that at least 53 people were killed in Shanghai during a deadly fire. The blaze, which occurred on Monday at 2:15 p.m.  (0615 ), consumed a 28-story high-rise apartment building in the city's .

The building was being renovated at the time of the fire, and was home to over 150 families. At least 100 victims have been admitted to area hospitals, although some later died. Most survivors were not seriously injured, but needed treatment for . Firefighters were still looking for survivors and over 70 were still hospitalized on the morning after the fire.

The fire was the worst in recent Shanghai history and took over 100 fire engines more than four hours to contain. Strong winds blew heavy smoke into the air, hampering rescue efforts by helicopters. The smoke was seen by witnesses around 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) away from the high-rise. The fire was largely extinguished by 6:30 p.m. local time (1000 UTC), allowing fire and rescue officials to enter the building.

The apartment building, built in the late 1990s, was home to mainly retired teachers. Some residents climbed down the scaffolding to escape, while others called for help but were unable to flee the blaze. "I saw at least four or five people hanging onto the scaffolding which covers the building, screaming for help," said Li Qubo, who was working near the high-rise.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but local residents said fire safety regulations were not strict, and workers often tossed used cigarettes into the building's hallways. Qiu Jingshu, a 38-year-old worker who was outside the 18th floor when the fire struck, said he saw sparks from welding being done on an adjacent building fly over onto the high-rise. The sparks lit up foam on the scaffolding around the apartment, according to Qiu. "We had tried to put out the blaze, but the fire was so big and spread so quickly that we could barely escape ourselves," he said. Crews were said to have been installing insulation at the time of the fire, and witnesses saw construction materials on fire before the building was overtaken by flames.

Two nearby buildings were evacuated, and their residents were temporarily sent to local hotels, and a school. , China's , said that an investigation would determine who was responsible for the fire, so they could be punished accordingly. Meng said that a team had been formed under  to look into the disaster.

A similar incident occurred in Beijing early last year. In February 2009, the illegal use of fireworks  that gutted a 34-story building under construction at the time.

Shanghai has a population of about 20 million, housed mainly in high-rise apartments. Many buildings in the city are under construction or being renovated.