Beijing, Jan 7 (AFP\/APP):At least nine people died when an explosion caused a building to collapse Friday in the Chinese city of Chongqing, local authorities said.<\/p>\n
The blast at 12:10 pm (0410 GMT) was triggered by a suspected gas leak and brought down a neighbourhood committee building housing a canteen, trapping more than 20 people, state news agency Xinhua said.<\/p>\n
Chongqing’s government said 20 people had been pulled from the rubble, nine of whom had lost their lives.<\/p>\n
The city did not specify in its social media statement late Friday the number of people still believed to be under the rubble.<\/p>\n
Videos and photos from Xinhua showed orange-clad workers in hard hats climbing through the rubble on Friday night under floodlights.<\/p>\n
The injured people are currently receiving medical treatment, Chongqing authorities said through their verified account on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.<\/p>\n
Footage posted by state broadcaster CCTV on social media showed smoke and dust billowing from the collapsed building in Wulong district on the outskirts of the southwestern megacity.<\/p>\n
The scene of the blast appeared to be in the middle of other buildings and was surrounded by a crowd of bystanders earlier on Friday.<\/p>\n
Another clip by Xinhua showed dozens of rescuers in military fatigues jogging along a road to the site carrying shovels over their shoulders.
\nMore than 150 fire and rescue workers have been deployed to the site, CCTV said.<\/p>\n
Heavy lifting and excavation equipment have also been sent to the scene.
\nThe cause of the blast remains under investigation.<\/p>\n
-‘Blown to pieces’-<\/p>\n
Local authorities have set up an “on-site emergency response headquarters” to direct the rescue work and provide medical treatment, the state-run People’s Daily newspaper reported.<\/p>\n
An eyewitness told state-run Phoenix TV that the blast was “very scary… our windows have all been blown to pieces”.<\/p>\n
Officials have demanded the “fastest possible rescue” and ordered service personnel to “spare no effort to rescue the injured and strictly guard against secondary disasters”, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n
Gas leaks and explosions are not uncommon in China, due to weak safety standards and corruption among officials tasked with enforcement.<\/p>\n
In June, 25 people were killed in a gas blast that ripped through a residential compound and struck a busy two-storey building packed with shoppers.<\/p>\n
Eight suspects, including the general manager of the company that owned the gas pipe, were detained after the government said “the company’s safety management system was unsound”.<\/p>\n
The same month, 18 people were killed and more injured when a fire broke out at a martial arts school, with state media reporting that all the victims were boarding school pupils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing, Jan 7 (AFP\/APP):At least nine people died when an explosion caused a building to collapse Friday in the Chinese city of Chongqing, local authorities said. The blast at 12:10 pm (0410 GMT) was triggered by a suspected gas leak and brought down a neighbourhood […]<\/p>\n
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