By Peijin Chen
In the days after the Jing’an fire, there’s been a great deal of confusion over the incident: the cause, why it spread so fast, the number of people missing or hurt, but we’ve had the most conflicting reports over how many lives were lost. In our last post about the fire, we reported that the death toll had risen to 79, relying on a Guardian article and an AP press report for that figure, but it is incorrect. It seems that when news came out that 26 bodies had their identities confirmed via DNA testing, several media mistook that to be an additional 26 deaths confirmed. Those 26 confirmed identities are part of the 53 already accounted for.
That being said, the death toll has increased to 58 according to Shanghai Daily–5 more than at last count. 22 are men and 36 are women. The authorities are still processing DNA tests to match victims with family members. At least 56 people have not been found since the fire.
For more Shanghaiist coverage of the fire click here.
