Two killed as explosion rocks China port city

AN EXPLOSION so powerful it was heard several miles away killed two people and injured more than 30 in China’s port city of Ningbo yesterday.

An AFP reporter near the scene of the blast saw piles of glass from shattered windows and corrugated iron storefront security doors bent by the impact.

Local authorities said two people died and two were seriously injured, while state media said more than 30 people were treated in hospitals in Ningbo, just south of Shanghai.

Authorities last night had still not announced a suspected cause of the explosion, which took place around 9am in a relatively new residential area in northern Ningbo.

The city government and state media variously described the site of the blast as a vacant lot or abandoned factory. But nearby residents said they believed it happened in an expanse of older abandoned apartments and commercial buildings slated for demolition to make way for new housing.