A fire broke out in a dormitory at an elementary school in central Henan province, killing 13 students, according to Chinese state media.
All of the dead were third-year students, a teacher at Yingcai School told Hebei province's state media Zonglan news. According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, one person who was rescued from the scene is being treated at a hospital.
The fire, which broke out in the rural Fangcheng district, broke out on Friday night and was extinguished just before midnight. According to CCTV, the owner of the boarding school was detained.
The newspaper quoted local residents as saying the school gives its students, many of whom are from rural areas, a break every two weeks, but this was not a holiday weekend.
The school, located in Dushu town, mainly targets elementary school students, but also has a kindergarten, according to the school's WeChat page.
Fires and other fatal accidents occur frequently in China.
In November, a fire broke out at a coal company office in northern China's Shanxi province, killing 26 people and sending dozens to hospital.
In July last year, the roof of a school gymnasium in the Northeast collapsed, killing 11 people. Last month, an explosion at a northwestern barbecue restaurant killed 31 people.
Last April, a hospital fire in Beijing killed 29 people and forced desperate survivors to flee by jumping out of windows.
