31 dead, seven injured in gas explosion at restaurant in China
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Thirty-one people were killed in an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in Yinchuan, the capital of China’s northwestern Ningxia region, state media reported Thursday morning. The blast, the result of a gas leak at Fuyang Barbecue, a popular restaurant on a busy street, happened about 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Seven other people were injured, one critically, local authorities reported.
Photos from the scene show the front of the restaurant mangled and debris on the ground while emergency services bring people out of the building.
According to a fire department report, two employees reported smelling gas about an hour before the explosion, noticed that a gas tank’s valve was broken and sent for a replacement. The explosion occurred while the valve was being replaced, Xinhua reported.
It took firefighters about 40 minutes to extinguish the resulting blaze, according to the news agency.
China’s top leader Xi Jinping called for all efforts to be made to treat the wounded and strengthen safety oversight in the area of the explosion, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday morning.
Pei-Lin Wu and Vic Chiang contributed to this report.
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Source: The Washington Post
