Beijing:
At least 20 people were trapped after an explosion on Friday caused a government canteen building to collapse in the Chinese city of Chongqing, according to state media.
The blast at 12:10 am (0410 GMT) was caused by a “suspected gas leak” in a cafeteria and caused a neighborhood committee building to collapse, trapping people inside, the state-run People’s Daily reported.
Authorities have sent about 260 rescue workers and 50 vehicles to the site, state broadcaster CCTV reported, adding that the cause of the explosion is under investigation.
A video posted to the official Weibo page of the Chinese Fire Service shows workers dressed in orange with safety helmets climbing through large chunks of rubble.
Nine people have been rescued from the site, the department said.
The official Xinhua news agency said some of the injured were taken to hospital, without giving further details.
Footage posted to social media by CCTV shows smoke and dust rising from the collapsed building in Wulong District on the outskirts of the southwestern megacity.
An eyewitness told state-owned Phoenix TV that the blast was “very scary… our windows were all blown to pieces.”
Local government officials have set up an “on-site emergency response headquarters” to lead rescue efforts and provide medical treatment, People’s Daily reported.
Gas leaks and explosions are not uncommon in China, due to weak safety standards and corruption among officials charged with enforcing them.
In June, 25 people were killed in a gas explosion that ripped through a residential area and hit a crowded two-story building filled with shoppers.
Eight suspects, including the chief executive of the company that owned the gas pipeline, were detained after the government said “the company’s safety management system was not sound”.
That same month, 18 people were killed and more were injured when a fire broke out at a martial arts school, with state media reporting that all the victims were boarding school students.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)