Thirty-eight people were killed and six injured in a fire at a rest home in central China's Henan province on Monday night, local authorities said on Tuesday.

The inferno at a row of bungalows at the privately owned Kangleyuan Rest Home in Lushan county, Pingdingshan, started at 7:33 pm, according to the provincial publicity office on Tuesday morning.

The six injured, two of whom are in serious condition, have been hospitalized, the statement said.