BEIJING: According to state media reports on Wednesday ( Apr 30 ), at least 17 people were hurt when an explosion erupted in a residential area in Shanxi province in northern China, causing clouds of smoke and shattering glass in nearby buildings.
Without naming the incident’s cause, the blast occurred in Shanxi’s Taiyuan city at around 5.17am GMT ( 1.17pm, Singapore time ), according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Many vehicles reportedly sat outside a building in ablaze on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, with thick smoke pouring from the cars and some home windows, according to footage that was unverified by Reuters.
According to CCTV, 210 firefighters and 43 fire vehicles were on the field overall. The Ministry of Emergency Management in China set up a working team to link rescue operations and conducted floor-by-floor requests to check the number of people trapped in the building.
The blast occurred a moment after a restaurant fire in Liaoning province, northeast China, claimed the lives of 22 people. President Xi Jinping referred to the event as” a deeply disturbing training” and urged local authorities to take all precautions to avoid major safety accidents.
Targets authorities said on Wednesday that they were still looking into the actual cause of the fire, but they had not yet determined whether a gas explosion or arson had occurred, according to CCTV.
Preliminary analysis suggests that the restaurant’s trapped victims likely died of strangulation as the fire quickly spread through highly volatile furniture and elegant materials, according to CCTV.
The most recent incidents come after a number of identical accidents have occurred in China recently. In a fire that broke out in an apartment for the older at a care home in the northern county of Hebei earlier in April, 20 people were killed.