27,000 tons of grain retrieved following NE China barn fire

BEIJING -- Local authorities have retrieved 27,000 tons of grain from a barn that caught fire in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province last Friday, with another 14,000 tons due to be retrieved over the next two days.

The China Grain Reserves Corporation, which runs the barn, said in a Monday statement that 147,000 tons of subsidized grain was in storage at the barn, adding that 1,000 tons was consumed by the fire.

The barn, located in Huayuan Township in Lindian County, caught fire Friday afternoon. The fire spread to another 80 barns and required 20 hours of firefighting efforts to extinguish.

Cao Binghan, deputy commander of the local rescue headquarters, said the fire was triggered by a short circuit, adding that it incurred 3 million yuan ($489,000) in direct economic losses.

No casualties were reported.