Some workers at a construction site in the southern part of Chengdu, Sichuan province, lost all their belongings in a fire in the residential quarters on Tuesday morning.

When the fire broke out, workers tried hard to stop it from spreading, ignoring the danger to their own possessions. Some of their dorms were burned, leaving those who lived in them with nothing, according to scol.com.cn, a major news portal in Sichuan.

With most workers yet to return from family reunions during the Spring Festival holiday, the quarters that can hold about 1,000 workers had only a few workers and guards present. When the fire began at around 9 am, all tried to save what they could from destruction.

Li Ming, a worker who had just finished night shift, was cooking breakfast when he heard somebody say there was smoke and ask whether a fire had broken out, the report said.

When he left his dorm, he saw flames that turned into a fierce fire. He joined his co-workers and firefighters in extinguishing the fire. When the fire was put out, he found his dorm had been burned and all he had left was the clothes he was wearing.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, scol.com.cn reported.