A massive suspected gas explosion at a restaurant in northern China killed two people and injured 26 others during Wednesday rush hour, according to official media, causing extensive structural damage.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, the incident occurred just before 8:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) in a residential district of Sanhe, Hebei province, less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beijing’s center.
At 1:30 p.m., CCTV recorded two deaths and 26 injuries. The fire has been extinguished, it said.
The explosion was suspected to be caused by a gas leak at a fried chicken restaurant, according to state media.
“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,” they added.
Another seller reported hearing a “huge bang” from the blast site, which was in a busy area of squat apartment buildings six or seven levels high.
An AFP team on the scene also saw police directing oncoming vehicles away from an entrance to the suburb where the explosion happened.
From a police cordon on the north side of the blast zone, they could see a tower of gray smoke a few hundred meters (yards) away, with what appeared to be a crane nearby.
‘Destroyed’
State media footage posted online depicted a massive explosion that blasted plumes of smoke and fire across a busy road.
Another video posted on social media and authenticated by AFP showed what appeared to be a completely collapsed structure, as well as multiple smashed automobiles and debris strewn across the road.
According to footage published by video-sharing site Douyin, the bomb knocked off shop facades on the opposite side. The uploader told AFP that the explosion occurred 200 metres from her home.
Rescue crews rushed to the area, with the local Langfang fire department reporting 36 rescue vehicles and 154 personnel dispatched.
A merchant working at a nearby store informed state-run Jimu News that she heard a blast while at her shop.
She stated she went out of her store and witnessed a structure on fire, adding that “the whole building was virtually destroyed”.
Accidents common
Explosions and other fatal mishaps are widespread in China, owing to low safety regulations and insufficient enforcement.
A residential building in the eastern city of Nanjing caught fire last month, killing at least 15 people and injuring 44 others.
In January, several died when a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu, according to state news agency Xinhua. The incident was sparked by workers in the store’s basement using fire in a “illegal” manner.
That incident occurred just days after a late-evening fire at a school in central Henan province killed 13 students while they slept in a dormitory.
Domestic media sources stated that the fire was started by an electric heating appliance.
In November of last year, a fire at a coal company headquarters in northern Shanxi province killed 26 people and sent scores to the hospital.
Last June, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the country’s northwest killed 31 people, prompting government assurances of a statewide effort to promote workplace safety.