A fire in a Dongcheng District took almost three full days to extinguish, but caused no injuries before it was finally put out late Sunday.

The fire started at the Bairong Shimao Department Store on Thursday morning around 9am, and is believed to have started when a 16-year-old employee lit a cardboard box on fire, police said.

Eight hundred fifty firefighters and 165 fire trucks were used in the effort to extinguish the blaze, state media reported, but did not explain why the fire took so long to put out.

An estimated 2,800 square meters of the megamall were burned in the fire. A full investigation is pending.

Photo: icaijing.com