Wenzhou -- Police detained three people in connection with an apartment building fire here that killed 21 people on Wednesday and left two others severely injured, local government officials said on Thursday.

The three were Wu Songdi, board chairman of the Duoduoxian Horticulture Co. Ltd.; Shao Yongsen, owner of the Yuanyuan Ballroom, and Zhu Xiuling, legal representative of a Duoduoxian flower shop, who fled after the fire, a spokesman with the Wenzhou city government said.

"The injured people are in stable condition," the official said, providing no further details.

Initial investigations found that sparks from an electrical wire in the Duoduoxian flower shop on the first floor of the 28-story Wenfu Mansion in this eastern Chinese city set wrapping paper and plastic flowers ablaze at about 8:20 a.m. and started the fatal fire. The blaze then spread to a neighboring hairdressing parlor.

The fire generated superheated smoke that rapidly rose to the ballroom on the second floor, where about 200 people were dancing. Most escaped, but 19 people were suffocated by poisonous fumes.

Of nine people who were in the flower shop at the time, seven escaped and two were killed.

In all, the dead included 12 men and nine women.

Two people had to jump from high floors to escape and were injured. One of them sustained fractured bones.

Rescuers safely evacuated 213 other people who were initially trapped in the building.

The fire covered about 1,270 square meters. More than 200 fire fighters and 33 fire engines were sent to the scene, and the fire was extinguished at about 11:00 a.m..

The bottom three floors of the building were used for commercial purposes, with the rest comprising apartments.

Local authorities have frozen the bank accounts of the flower shop owner. The funds will be used to compensate victims' families.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2007)