BEIJING (Reuters) -A suspected gas leak caused a blast at a restaurant in China’s northern province of Hebei that ripped facades from buildings, damaged cars and scattered debris to kill one person and injure 22, state media and authorities said on Wednesday.
The injured were taken to hospital, state broadcaster CCTV News said after the blast at about 8 a.m. in the county of Sanhe, roughly 80 km (50 miles) from Beijing, the capital, where key annual political meetings had just concluded.
Videos on social media platform Weibo showed a large orange fireball over the site, followed by billows of grey smoke, and scenes of the destroyed frontage of buildings, mangled cars, with glass shards in the streets, and some objects still ablaze.
A gas leak triggered the accident in a fried chicken shop in the town of Yanjiao, city emergency officials said in a statement, drawing rescuers, firefighters, health and other officials to the scene.
The fire had been brought under control, fire officials said in an earlier statement, adding that 36 vehicles and 154 people had been dispatched to the site and were carrying out rescue work.
China’s latest deadly gas explosion at an eatery comes after the government issued detailed guidelines last year on the use of gas appliances and cookers to avert safety risks.
Social media posters on Weibo said the explosion occurred near a cultural centre in the town. Construction of a metro line was taking place nearby, independent Chinese weekly the Economic Observer said on its social media account.
City emergency authorities have sent an investigation team, according to social media posts.
(Reporting by Beijing and Shanghai newsrooms; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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