A nine-year-old has been detained after a fire broke out at a market in China, killing 17 people and injuring four firefighters.

Police believe the young boy was fiddling with a lighter before the blaze began at the shopping mall in Huidong, Guangdong province.

It took more than six hours to bring the flames under control, and rescuers worked through the night to find those trapped in the building.

Safety regulations are often flouted in China, with business owners paying off corrupt inspectors to overlook shoddy standards.

In 2013, some 120 people died when a blaze ravaged a poultry factory in China's northeast.

Poor management and blocked exits were blamed for the high death toll.

(Sky News)