North China gas blast kills 2, injures dozens
SANHE, China: A huge suspected gas explosion at a restaurant in northern China killed at least two people and injured 26 others on Wednesday, state media reported, causing severe damage to buildings.
State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said the blast occurred just before 8 a.m. in a residential area in the city of Sanhe, Hebei province, less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the center of the capital Beijing.
Footage online circulated by state media showed a huge explosion that sent plumes of smoke and fire across a busy road.
CCTV reported at 1:30 p.m. that two people had since died and 26 were injured, and added that the fire had been extinguished.
The explosion was suspected to have been caused by a gas leak at a fried chicken shop, state media reported.
Two large buildings were completely destroyed in the blast, footage shared by CCTV showed, with rescue teams seen hauling away a car hit by the explosion.
Rescue workers can also be seen carrying away a large gas canister.
Residents told Agence FrancePresse (AFP) journalists that they had heard a loud explosion before rushing outside to see a plume of smoke rising into the morning air.
“I heard a great big bang ... which scared me stiff,” a seller at a local market told AFP. “Outside, I saw clouds of black smoke.”
Another seller said they also heard a “huge bang” from the blast site, in a bustling area of squat apartment blocks about six or seven floors high.
“When I saw many people were running there, I took a video,” a local man said. “The smoke was thick but I didn’t see the explosion. When I reached the scene, there was still smoke.”
Near the scene of the blast, an AFP team observed police waving oncoming traffic away from an entrance to the neighborhood where the explosion occurred.
From a police cordon on the north side of the blast zone, they could see a tower of gray smoke a few hundred meters away.
AFP was refused access to the nearby Jingdong Zhongmei Hospital, where the victims had been taken.
A man who identified himself as the head of security for the hospital said staff were “all busy treating patients” and that local government permission was needed before the news agency could talk to victims.
‘Destroyed’
The blast blew out shop facades opposite, footage shared on videosharing site Douyin showed. The uploader told AFP the explosion took place 200 m from her home.
Another social media video verified by AFP showed what appeared to be a building that had completely collapsed, as well as several destroyed cars and debris strewn across the street.
The local Langfang fire department said 36 emergency vehicles and 154 personnel were dispatched to the scene.
Explosions and other deadly accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.
A recent spate of such accidents has prompted calls from President Xi Jinping for “deep reflection” and greater efforts to stop them.
Last month, at least 15 people were killed and 44 injured in a fire at a residential building in the eastern city of Nanjing.
In January, dozens died after a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu, with state-run Xinhua News Agency reporting that the blaze had been caused by the “illegal” use of fire by workers in the store’s basement.
That fire came just days after a lateevening blaze at a school in central Henan province killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory.
Domestic media reports suggested the fire was caused by an electric heating device.
And last June, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the country’s northwest left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.