Fire at China massage parlor kills 18

Photo taken on Feb 6, 2017 shows the accident site after a fire broke out in the Zuxintang Foot Massage Parlor in Tiantai County, East China's Zhejiang province. At least 18 people have been killed and another two injured after the foot massage parlor caught fire on Sunday afternoon. [Photo/Xinhua]

TIANTAI, Zhejiang - Sunday's fire at a foot massage parlor in east China's Zhejiang province killed 18 people and injured 18 others, police confirmed early Monday.

Flames engulfed "Zuxintang foot massage and bathing parlor" in Tiantai county in the city of Taizhou at 5:26 pm, the county's public security department said.

It said eight people were found dead at the scene and 10 others died later in hospital.

As of 5 am Monday, 18 people had been landed in hospital with injuries, it said.

The flames were extinguished at around 7 pm.

The parlor was on the first and second floors of a six-story building in a downtown community.

A tablet inscribed with "Zuxintang" -- which literally translates into "parlor with fragrance of foot" -- remains on the wreckage of its charred wall, but its doors, windows and furniture have been brought down to debris. A car parked outside the parlor was also wrecked in the fire.

Following the accident, the neighborhood has been cordoned off by police and colorful stripes hang around the building warning of danger.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Tiantai, a small county in the hilly eastern areas of the rich Zhejiang province, has 382,800 permanent residents.