(CCTV 07-18-2008 14:05)-- A fire at a plastic packaging factory in Shanghai has left three firefighters dead and injured nine others. Police say structural flaws in the storehouses may have caused an overhead beam to fall, crushing the firefighters.

A fire at a plastic packaging factory in Shanghai has left three firefighters dead and injured nine others.

The blaze broke out at around 12:20 p.m. on Thursday in the storehouses of a plastic packaging company in Fengxian District. More than 300 firefighters had extinguished the fire by 8:00 p.m. The fire spread over 2,000 square meters.

No one at the factory was hurt in the blaze. Residents within 200 meters of the plant in southwest Shanghai were evacuated.