At least 42 people died and more than 50 were injured when fire swept through a central Shanghai apartment block on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The blaze broke out in a 28-storey building in the Jing'an district that was being renovated and spread quickly to the upper floors. Firefighters trying to tackle the flames had to set up hoses on top of a nearby building to get near the blaze and brought it under control after about four hours.