Foreign consulates in the city on Wednesday confirmed that they have received no reports of any non-Chinese casualties in the fire that gutted a downtown residential building, killing at least 53 people, on Monday.

"Two French nationals who reside in the building were out at work when the fire started. They're either staying in a friend's apartment or a hotel for the moment. We're trying to help them with insurance as most of their valued properties were lost," said a French deputy consul general in Shanghai, who refused to be named.

In addition, officials with the Japanese consulate in Shanghai dismissed the claim that a Japanese citizen died in the fire.

According to an updated list posted at noon on Wednesday by the Shanghai municipal bureau of civil affairs at the No 2 Amateur Sports School in Jing'an district, which is now being used as a temporary shelter, 43 people are still missing and 70 people injured in the fire remain hospitalized. Among them, 15 are critical.

A construction plan, which had been approved by local urban planning authorities, suggested rigid polyurethane foam, an insulant to improve a building's energy efficiency, was being pasted on the surface of the fire-stricken building and two nearby 28-story residential buildings when the fire struck.

However, the material, though combustible, would not add to the severity of a fire, according to experts.

As of Wednesday night, a row of reception stands, which are supposed to receive and assist the survivors of the fire as well as relatives or friends of those who passed away in the tragedy, have been placed in the dance room of the No 2 Amateur Sports School.

Workers with insurance companies are actively helping people in claiming compensation.

As of 5 pm on Wednesday, a charity fund raised for the victims and those who suffered in the fire had already received 4.47 million yuan ($672,700), according to the statistics of Shanghai Charity Foundation.

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2010)