Shenzhen entry port reopens after fire

SHENZHEN - A major port linking Hong Kong and Shenzhen resumed operation Tuesday morning after firefighters put out a blaze in a customs building Monday night.

At 6:30 am Tuesday, the first group of passengers started pass through the Luohu, located in Shenzhen, after the port closure due to the fire emergency.

"It is the first time for me to encounter such an occasion in over ten years," said a Hong Kong citizen who stayed overnight with his wife on the steps of the customs building.

Local fire control authorities received a report at 8:50 pm saying that heavy smoke was belching from an 11-story customs office at the port.

No casualties have been reported since the fire was extinguished at 10:40 pm. The closing of the Luohu Port delayed about 100 people at the port's checkpoints, said an official in charge of the port's operation.

An average of 280,000 passengers pass every day through the Luohu Port to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or to the Chinese mainland.

An initial probe indicated that the fire was caused by malfunctioning electrical wires on the third floor.

People wait outside a building at Luohu Port in Shenzhen on Monday night after a fire swept through the custom office. The fire started around 7:40 pm and was put out about two hours later. The port was closed temporarily. An initial probe said the fire might have been ignited by an electrical wiring malfunction on the third floor. Photo by Zhang Guofang / for China Daily