Thousands mourn victims of Shanghai apartment blaze

Thousands gathered outside  the charred frame of a 28-storey Shanghai apartment building  on Sunday to mourn 58 people who died in Monday's fire, which  has been blamed on lax oversight and illegal work practices. 

Tearful family members of the victims began arriving at  first light, laying flowers and wreaths before portraits of  their deceased loved-ones. 

By late morning, residents estimated that at least 10,000  people had come to pay their respects. 

"It's not because she left this world that we say this,  but she was so full of love and she loved her father and  mother so much," said Chen Huiyang, who lost her 38-year-old  cousin, Wang Fang, in the fire. 

Police and volunteers maintained order as crowds lined up  to place flowers at one of the entrances to the apartment  building. 

Many had organised online to converge on the street in  front of the wreckage seven days after the fire, a common  tradition of a mourning cycle in China which lasts up to seven  weeks. 

Acting quickly to salve residents' anxieties, Chinese  police have detained 12 people in connection with the blaze,  believed to have been caused by sparks from unlicensed welding  at a building renovation site.

Project supervisors, building construction managers and  property management were among those detained, state news  agency Xinhua reported Friday. 

Officials looked to a speedy investigation to head off  public disquiet in Shanghai, a city with an urban population  of about 13 million which has just finished hosting an expo  intended to showcase it as a modern, global metropolis. 

The Shanghai government ordered fire-control and safety  inspections throughout the city following the fire, and  central government authorities have promised a crackdown on  lax safety practices at construction sites and public areas in  major cities across the country. 

The breakneck speed of development and urban growth in  China has posed a challenge for safety maintenance, though  major fire disasters have been relatively rare compared with  other developing countries. 

One resident, who lost his mother in the fire, said  investigators should be looking into all aspects of the  disaster. 

"At the scene of the fire, I felt that the fire fighters  were doing their best to rescue people," said 52-year-old Ge  Weidong. 

"As to the technical aspects and the preparedness of their  equipment, that is another matter," he said. "I feel that we  should be looking at this disaster in an objective manner."