Eighteen people were killed on Monday and five wounded in a fire that erupted at a karaoke lounge in China. Authorities have since arrested a suspect. The fire started after midnight in a three-storey building in Yingde, Guangdong province, and was put out shortly before 1:00 am local time, according to the police. A preliminary investigation found that it was caused by arson, the public security department in Qingyuan city, which oversees Yingde, said on its Weibo social media account. The suspect got into an argument, then used a motorcycle to block the buildings door and lit the fire, state broadcaster CCTV said. He soon made his escape, but was detained by police in a village district, shortly after authorities offered a 200,000 yuan ($32,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of a man identified as a 32-year-old with burn marks on his hips. The official Xinhua news agency, citing the city government, said the suspect, identified as Liu Chunlu, confessed after he was arrested at his home. "I was drunk last night and had had a fight with unknown people (before the fire)," Liu told police, according to Xinhua. The police statement did not describe the location of the fire but state media said it occurred in a small KTV house, or karaoke lounge. Unverified videos from the scene posted by local media show flames leaping from the building on a tree-lined street at night, with fire trucks and a crowd of onlookers on the road. The five injured people are receiving treatment in a hospital, state TV said. Karaoke is a popular activity in China, with even shopping centers featuring booths where people can sit and sing their favorite songs. Larger KTV lounges proliferate as well, often spanning across multiple floors in a building, with narrow corridors linking dozens of individual rooms together. The lounge where the fire occurred was smaller, with only one corridor for entry and exit, state TV said. China suffers frequent deadly fires and industrial accidents, often blamed on negligence. Last year, police arrested a man suspected of setting fire to a two-story house in eastern China, killing 22 people. At that time, investigators discovered traces of gasoline at the scene of the pre-dawn fire in Jiangsu province and found all the doors of the house locked. A blaze that killed 38 people at a nursing home in 2015 sparked soul-searching about safety standards in China. Courts jailed 21 people, including firefighters and government staff, over the fire. The legal representative of the Kangleyuan Nursing Home was sentenced to nine years in prison for constructing an illegal extension to the property, while the contractor was given a six-year sentence for using flammable materials to build an extension. After the accident, Chinas top safety watchdog said the facility had poorly-designed fire exits, while safety checks, fire and electricity management, and the emergency response system were all found lacking.