31 killed, 7 injured as explosion rips apart restaurant in northwestern China, nine arrested

A major explosion at arestaurant in the northwestern Chinese city of Yinchuan has left at least 31 people dead, state media reported Thursday.

"A leak of liquefied petroleum gas... caused an explosion during the operation of a barbecue restaurant," state news agency Xinhua said about the Wednesday evening blast, adding that seven more people were "receiving all-out rescuetreatment".

According to reports, the blast reportedly occurred around 8.40 pm(local time) on Wednesday when people were gathering for the start of the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, which is devoted toeating rice dumplings and racing boats manned by teams of paddlers

The restaurant is located on a busy street in Yinchuan, the capital of the traditionally Muslim Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The police have arrested nine people, including therestaurant owner, for the alleged lapses.

"In accordance with the law, public security organs have held nine people, including the barbecue restaurant owner, shareholders and staff... and frozen their assets," state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the regional Communist Partycommittee.

Gas leak caused explosion

One of the witnesses told The Paper, an online news outlet, that she heard the blast about 50 metres (164 feet) from the restaurant. The woman, identifiedonly by her surname Chen, further said thatshe saw two waiters emergingfrom the restaurant after the blast, one of whom collapsed immediately, even as thick smoke billowed from the restaurant and a strong smell of cooking gas permeated the area.

The Central Government’s Ministry of Emergency Management said on its social media account that search and rescue work at the restaurant was completed early Thursday morning and investigators were sent to determine the cause of the blast.

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Local reports say that such accidents arecommon in Chinadue topoor government supervision, corruption, cost-cutting measures by employers and little safety training for employees.

During the country’s May Day holiday, nine peoplewere killed in an explosion at a Chinese petrochemical plant, and three others died in a helicopter crash.

In February, 53 miners were killed in the collapse of a massive open pit coal mine in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, leading to numerous arrests, and four people were detained over a fire at an industrial trading company in central China in November that killed 38 people.

The central government has pledged stronger safety measures since an explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers. In that case, a number of local officials were accused of having taken bribes to ignore safety violations.

(With inputs from agencies)

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