2 dead, 26 injured in explosion at Hebei restaurant, cause investigated
Two people were killed and 26 others injured in an explosion at a fried chicken restaurant in the town of Yanjiao, in Sanhe, Hebei province, on Wednesday morning, the city’s emergency management bureau said.
It said a gas leak at the restaurant was suspected to have caused the 7:54 am detonation, the bureau said.
An online video showed heavy damage to a four-story building after the explosion, while the windows of nearby buildings were shattered and some vehicles on the road were damaged.
“It just suddenly blew up,” a woman told the Nanfang Plus news app.
She said the scene was a complete mess around 8 am, with a cordon formed and medical and fire rescue teams arriving at the site of the explosion.
She added that passing vehicles had been deformed, and the road was covered by debris.
There was a second explosion around 9 am, she said.
Sanhe is under the administration of Langfang. A total of 154 firefighters and 36 firefighting trucks were dispatched to the site for rescue work, Langfang’s fire rescue department said.
The fire had been extinguished and search and rescue work was nearing its end, Ji Hongtu, the head of Sanhe’s emergency management bureau, told China Media Group on Wednesday afternoon.
Residents within 500 meters of the restaurant had been evacuated, he added.
“After the explosion, the gas supply in some nearby areas was cut off. It was expected to be reconnected by Wednesday night after a thorough security check,” Ji said.
Ji said that the initial investigation suggests that the explosion was caused by a gas leak.
Ji said that there were four commercial establishments on the ground floor of the building, two of which were restaurants that were open at the time of the explosion.
“However, the exact location of the explosion, the source of the gas leak, and the manner of the leak have yet to be determined,” Ji said. “The final results will be announced by the investigation team.”
Fourteen people had been admitted to hospital by 1 pm, two of them with serious but not lifethreatening injuries.
The other 12 survivors suffered common injuries, mainly soft tissue injuries and fractures, and their vital signs were stable.
The National Health Commission has organized experts from various disciplines to consult with hospitals treating the wounded, conduct individual assessments of their injuries, and formulate personalized treatment plans.
Provincial-level experts from Hebei have also been dispatched to hospitals in Langfang to support treatment.