One killed in high-rise building explosion in China

At least one person was killed in an explosion in a high-rise building in northeast China's Jilin province on Friday, local officials said.

The blast happened about 3:20 pm (0720 GMT) on the 30th floor of the Wanda Plaza Apartment Building in Changchun, city authorities said in a statement posted on social media, adding that the incident was under investigation.

A car was also exploded in the building's underground garage minutes before the blast, an official said.

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Eyewitnesses reported hearing over 20 explosions and people had been evacuated from buildings surrounding the Wanda Plaza Apartment, the state-run Beijing Youth Daily newspaper reported.

Social media footage showed a busy road shrouded in smoke as devices exploded on the ground while people fled. Another video showed a blast on the upper floors of a high-rise building.

AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

This incident comes just over a week before the Lunar New Year holiday, which the Chinese usually welcome with firecrackers and fireworks, sometimes resulting in accidents.

Last February, a fireworks explosion killed four and injured five in southwestern Yunan province.

In January 2006, 36 people were killed as they celebrated the Lunar New Year at a temple festival in central China's Henan province when fireworks exploded in an illegal factory storeroom nearby.

But bomb explosions have also occurred in China in recent years.

In June 2017, a bomb exploded outside a kindergarten in east Jiangsu province, killing eight people and injuring dozens. The explosion was blamed on a 22-year-old introvert with health problems who died in the blast.

Ethnic Uighurs have been tied to mass stabbings and bombings that left dozens dead in recent years across the country.