A burning cigarette end left by a female worker was confirmed to have caused Saturday's fire of an underclothing factory that killed nine other female workers in northeast China's Liaoning Province, said local police on Sunday.

The fire that broke out at around 3:30?AM on Saturday at the Shuanglu underclothing factory in Sujiatun District, Shenyang started from the first floor, when the stub ignited the cloth, according to local police.

Three of the 13 workers sleeping in their second-floor dormitories managed to escape, nine were killed and another one was slightly injured.

Compensation is under negotiation, local officials said.

Shuanglu was a private factory registered in 2002 and came into operation in this past August, with a two-story building taking up300 square meters.

(Xinhua News Agecny September 18, 2006)