Guangdong arson suspect admits anger over labor dispute

A man arrested on suspicion of a deadly arson attack on an underwear factory in south China's Guangdong Province confessed on Wednesday that he committed the crime out of anger over a labor dispute, according to investigators.

Fourteen people were killed in a blaze that broke out at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the factory in a four-story building in the city of Shantou. A single injured worker is being treated at a local hospital.

The municipal emergency response office on Wednesday identified the suspect as Liu Shuangyun, 26, from central China's Hunan Province.

Liu was caught by police in the city of Puning at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday. He allegedly bought petroleum to set the fire and fled the scene afterward.

The fire was contained within half an hour and extinguished within one hour, after burning an area of more than 200 square meters.

Liu had worked in the factory for about one year and been paid on a piece-work arrangement for producing underwear.

The factory boss, surnamed Chen, had always docked his wages, taking a total of about 3,000 yuan (481.8 U.S. dollars) to date, said Liu while being questioned by police.

Chen refused to pay the sum to Liu when he tried to claim his wages recently, Liu said.

"If you don't pay me back the money, you will not escape," said Liu in a text message on Tuesday morning to Chen, who did not reply or answer a number of phone calls from his employee.

"I got even angrier. Being full of resentment, I decided firmly to take revenge on him," said Liu, who then bought two lighters and some gasoline in a plastic can. He sprayed the gasoline on sponges and the floors of the building.

While he was spraying the gasoline on the stairs of the second floor, he heard the sound of footsteps and quickly threw the can.

After that, Liu lit the sponges on the ground floor and ran away from the site, according to his confession.

"I felt no regret for doing these things. As I could not get all my wages back, I had to give my life in this gambling with him," said Liu.

When asked about the innocent 14 lives lost in the fire, Liu said that he had not thought of them.

Chen was not in the building at the time of the arson attack.

Chendian Township, home to the factory, is a renowned underwear production base, containing hundreds of such enterprises.

Twenty-seven workers were working at the factory when Liu set the fire. Besides 12 people who succeeded in escaping, 15 workers were trapped in the blaze.

"The fire started on the ground floor and all of us had difficulty escaping. I was working near a window and survived by jumping out of it," said Chen Xiaoshan, a 21-year-old female survivor.

Most of the 14 dead workers were under 30 years old, from nearby regions. Besides one male worker, all the other deceased were female.

"It was so miserable. There were 12 unmarried young girls and a 29-year-old pregnant worker," said Chen.

Local villagers rushed to rescue the workers after they saw flames coming from the factory.

The fire spread from the ground floor and workers inside could not escape from the stairs, said a villager surnamed Zhang whose hands were hurt in the rescue.

"So, some of them jumped from the windows and we tried to catch them. Some of us were injured in the rescue," according to Zhang.

Preliminary investigations indicated the incident was the result of arson. Most of the casualties came as a result of smoke inhalation, said Chen Zhiwei, a local policeman in charge of the investigation.

The case is still being investigated, and Shantou City is working to determine the identities of the 14 dead and undertake check-ups on the safety of other factory facilities in the city.