43 people have died in a fire at an illegal dance club in southern China.
Another 88 mostly young people were injured in the fire.
The fire broke out just before midnight local time at the packed King of the Dancers club in Shenzhen near the border with Hong Kong.
It was sparked by a pyrotechnical display on the third floor, local police told China's official news agency Xinhua.
The owner of the club was being questioned by police, while 12 people had been detained.
The main hall quickly filled with deadly smoke after the roman candle-type display touched ceiling tiles, and the lights went off soon after - plunging panicking revellers into darkness, said witnesses.
Many of the deaths and injuries occurred in a stampede to escape through a narrow hallway.
'The fire wasn't that big, but there was a lot of smoke,' said a man surnamed Zhang, who said he worked at the club.
'Everyone was crowding towards the front entrance, because they didn't know about the one in the back,' he said.
'We tried to tell them, but nobody would listen,' he said.
Policemen at the scene told Reuters that there could more victims on the fourth floor as recovery efforts had been limited mostly the third floor.
Local media and witnesses said the club operated without a proper licence, but local officials could not confirm that.
The Party chief of the province, Wang Yang, has ordered an immediate investigation into the cause of the blaze.
