Authorities have dispatched around 260 emergency workers and 50 vehicles to the site (File)
Beijing:
At least 20 people were trapped after an explosion that caused a building in a government canteen in the Chinese city of Chongqing collapsed on Friday, according to state media.
According to the People’s Daily report, at 12:10 p.m. (GMT 0410) the explosion was caused by a “suspected gas leak” in a canteen and a neighboring committee building collapsed, leaving people trapped inside.
State broadcaster CCTV said officials had sent about 260 rescue workers and 50 vehicles to the scene. He said the cause of the blast was being investigated.
A video posted on the official Weibo page of China’s fire brigade showed workers wearing hard hats climbing over large chunks of rubble.
The department said that nine people have been rescued from the spot.
The official Xinhua news agency said some of the injured people were taken to hospital without giving further details.
Footage posted on social media by CCTV showed smoke and dust billowing from a collapsed building in Wulong district, on the outskirts of the southwestern megacity.
An eyewitness told state-run Phoenix TV that the blast was “very scary…our windows were shattered”.
The People’s Daily reported that local government officials have set up an “emergency response headquarters on site” to direct rescue work and provide medical treatment.
Due to weak safety standards and corruption among the officials who enforce them, gas leaks and explosions are not uncommon in China.
In June, 25 people were killed in a gas explosion that ripped through a residential complex and hit a busy two-story building full of shoppers.
Eight suspects, including the general manager of the company that owned the gas pipe, were detained after the government said “the company’s security management system was poor”.
In the same month, a fire at a martial arts school killed 18 people and injured more, with state media reporting that all the victims were students of the school.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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