CRI听力:Fatal Rest Home Fire Triggers Safety Checks across China

Nationwide safety checks have been ordered here in China following this week's deadly fire at a nursing home in Henan.

Inspectors are fanning out across the country, checking on nursing homes, schools, child-care centers, hospitals and other facilities with large numbers of people.

The inspections are going to focus on ensuring these buildings are properly wired, have proper fire-protection equipment and enough emergency exit points.

This comes following a fire which tore through a nursing home in the city of Pingdingshan in Henan on Monday night which left 38 seniors dead.

So far it’s unclear how the fire started.

Survivors say the blaze moved very quickly.

"I heard people screaming outside. I went out and saw a massive fire. The fire was spreading quickly across the hall, which is only 20 or 30 meters away from where we were. I had difficulty walking. To get out, it had to crawl on the ground."

Twelve staff members at the nursing home, including 7 nurses, are under investigation.

China's work safety watchdog has created a task force to investigate the case, with President Xi Jinping demanding a thorough investigation into exactly what happened.