BEIJING >> A fire at a southern China wholesale market has killed at least 17 people and injured nine others, including one firefighter who was seriously hurt, officials said Friday.

The fire broke out Thursday afternoon on the fourth floor of the market in southern Guangdong province and was controlled that night, said a statement issued Friday by the Communist Party’s propaganda department in Huidong County.

The propaganda department said the cause of the fire was still under investigation, but state broadcaster CCTV said it started in a movie theater on the fourth floor where decorative materials were flammable and toxic. CCTV said authorities in the county detained nine people in connection with the blaze.