At least 31 people were killed in an explosion caused by gas leak in a restaurant in northwestern Chinese city of Yinchuan, state media said Thursday.
The blast occurred on the eve of the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday. Footage on state broadcaster CCTV showed more than a dozen firefighters working at the site as smoke poured out of a gaping hole in the restaurant’s facade.
Nine people including the restaurant’s “owner, shareholders and staff” were held by police following the explosion.
“A leak of liquefied petroleum gas… caused an explosion during the operation of a barbecue restaurant,” state news agency Xinhua said of the Wednesday evening blast, citing the regional Communist Party committee.
The explosion at about 8:40 pm (1240 GMT) Wednesday took place at the Fuyang Barbecue Restaurant in a residential area of downtown Yinchuan, the capital of the Ningxia autonomous region.
