Fire breaks out in Huawei research lab in China

Beijing: A fire broke out in one of the research laboratories of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei in the country's southeast Guangdong province on Friday, the state media reported. Firefighters were trying to put out the blaze in Dongguan, the Global Times reported, adding that the cause was not immediately known. The building which caught fire was reported to be a research laboratory of Huawei from earlier posts on social media.

The local government of Dongguan said that the building was under construction. Earlier pictures and videos from social media on Friday afternoon showed fire and heavy smoke billowing out of the building. According to a notice from the local fire department sent by people familiar with the matter, the building was steel-structured and caught fire through its sound-absorbing material.

No casualties have been reported from the fire, according to the notice. The Dongguan Songshanhu district, where the building was located, is one of the biggest headquarters of Huawei, with 313 acres. Huawei, whose products are banned in the US, is battling hard to secure the release of Meng Wanzhou, its high-profile CFO and daughter of the company's founder Ren Zhengfei, who was detained in Vancouver in Canada in December 2018 on the US charges of bank fraud.

The Huawei executive is also accused of misleading HSBC Holdings about her company's dealings with Iran, which the US has sanctioned. She is fighting a possible extradition to the United States.