Deadly blast chaos hits a Chinese port

BEIJING — An explosion in a port city south of Shanghai on Sunday killed two people and injured at least 30 others, knocked down buildings and left streets littered with damaged cars and debris, the government and news reports said.

The early morning explosion struck a riverfront neighborhood in Ningbo, one of China’s busiest ports, the official Xinhua News Agency and other outlets reported.

Firefighters traced the blast to a hole in the ground where a toilet had been but the cause still was under investigation, state television said on its website. It gave no indication whether the explosion site was inside a building.

Two people were killed and two more seriously injured, the district office announced on its social media account. It gave no details.

At least 30 others were taken to hospitals, according to Huanqiu.com, a website operated by the Global Times newspaper.

China suffers frequent deadly fires and industrial accidents, often blamed on negligence.

Official safety crackdowns have improved conditions in some areas, but many companies still cut corners. In 2015, an explosion traced to improperly stored chemicals killed at least 173 people in Tianjin.

Sunday’s blast knocked down residential buildings that were vacant and in the process of being demolished, Huanqiu.com said.

Bystanders said the explosion might have been caused by a gas pipeline that was damaged during demolition work, but the Ningbo gas company said it had no lines in the area.