Cooking gas caused a massive explosion at a barbecue restaurant in northwestern China, killing 31 people and injuring seven others during national celebrations on the eve of a long holiday weekend, authorities said yesterday.
The blast tore through the restaurant at about 8:40pm on Wednesday on a busy street in Yinchuan, the capital of China’s traditionally Muslim Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, as people gathered ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival, Xinhua news agency said.
The explosion left many people unconscious and they needed to be carried out of the shop, online news site The Paper reported, quoting a member of the search-and-rescue team.
Photo: Reuters
Victims included elderly people and high-school students, it added.
An hour before the explosion, employees noticed the smell of cooking gas and discovered that a gas tank valve was broken, Xinhua reported.
The blast occurred while an employee was replacing the valve, it said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) demanded urgent medical care for the injured and a safety overhaul after the explosion, Xinhua said.
He called for efforts to quickly determine the cause of the incident and hold people accountable under the law, it said.
Xi said that all regions and related departments should address “all types of risks and hidden dangers,” and launch campaigns to promote workplace safety, it said.
The incident happened at an outlet of Fuyang Barbecue, a chain restaurant in Yinchuan popular for its grilled skewers and stir-fried dishes, The Paper said.
The two-story restaurant could seat 20 people on the ground floor and offered private dining rooms on the second floor, where customers could also sing karaoke.
A staff member in the emergency clinic at the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University confirmed that some of the injured were receiving treatment at the hospital, but said she was not authorized to talk to media.
The Paper cited a woman identified by her surname, Chen (陳), as saying that she had been about 50m from the restaurant when she heard the explosion.
She described seeing two waiters emerge from the restaurant afterward, one of whom collapsed immediately, while thick smoke billowed from the restaurant and a strong smell of cooking gas permeated the area.
Search-and-rescue work at the restaurant was completed by yesterday morning, and investigators were working to determine the cause of the blast, the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management wrote on social media.
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