Fatal fire caused by discarded cigarette butts

A man was arrested after he allegedly threw away a cigarette butt while attempting to steal an electric bicycle and caused a fire which killed one person, prosecutors in Jiading District said on Tuesday.

Three other residents in the building in Jiading were also injured in the fire.

Jiading District People's Procuratorate said that at dawn on December 19 last year, the suspect surnamed Nie sneaked into the building and tried to steal an e-bike. However, all the bikes were locked and he stole nothing. Nie then sat on the stair and smoked, discarding the butts in the corridor. 

A fire soon broke out. Four residents were burned in the fire and one died in hospital from his injuries.

Nie was captured by police the next day and confessed. Noticing that the fire was in the building, he guessed that it might be his cigarette butts that had caused it. He said he had never imagined that there were casualties.