HANGZHOU, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed by a blaze that engulfed an auto repair shop in Zhejiang province on Friday night, firefighters said Saturday.

    The store, in the first floor of a six-storey apartment building in Yaoxi Township of Wenzhou City, caught fire at about 10:55 p.m. Friday.

    Firemen extinguished the blaze in half an hour and rescued three men who suffered serious burns.

    The three, one being a local and two from the neighboring Anhui Province, died later in hospital as emergency treatment efforts failed, doctors said.

    Police officers were investigating the fatal accident.