Fire accidents have claimed 730 lives in the first eight months of this year in China, down 23.6 percent year-on-year, said the Ministry of Public Security Friday.

Another 398 people were injured in nearly 90,000 fire accidents during the period, according to a report from the ministry's fire control bureau.

Economic losses left by those accidents totaled 870 million yuan (about US$127.37 million), a 26.7 percent decrease year-on-year, the report said.

The figures exclude fires involving forests, grasslands, the military or the tunnels of mines. The blaze occurred at the new China Central Television headquarters on February 9 was also excluded, it said

Fires in residential buildings caused most deaths in the period.

Fire accidents in residential buildings numbered 35,430, which claimed 507 lives, accounting for almost 70 percent of the death toll, it said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2009)