1st LD-Writethru: Fire at China massage parlor kills 18

A man with 99 percent burns is in a critical condition after a fire at a foot massage parlor, which killed 18, in east China's Zhejiang Province, doctors said Monday.

The fire broke out at Zuxintang foot massage and bathing parlor in Tiantai County in the city of Taizhou at 5:26 p.m. Sunday, killing 18 and injuring 18 others.

All the injured were admitted to the county hospital. Zhu, 26, the man with 99 percent burns, was transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital of Hangzhou on Monday morning.

"Besides his burns, he also damaged his respiratory tract after inhaling dense smoke. He also has a bone fracture sustained from jumping from the second floor to escape," said Han Chunmao, doctor with the Hangzhou hospital.

The treatment is challenged by a lack of skin supply, since the patient will need to undergo skin grafts, doctors said.

The county's public security department said eight people were pronounced dead at the scene and 10 others died in hospital.

The fire was extinguished around 7 p.m. Sunday.

The parlor was on the first and second floors of a six-story building.The upper floors are apartments.

The county government said Monday that the person in charge of the parlor is in police custody. Endi