OAN’s Noah Herring
1:13 PM – Thursday, June 22, 2023
At least 31 people were found dead with seven others injured following an explosion at a barbeque restaurant in the Chinese city of Yinchuan, in the northwest Ningxia region.
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The explosion was reportedly caused by a liquified gas tank that had a leak inside the restaurant.
The blast took place at around 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday night. Among the seven injured, one person is currently in critical condition. High school students and retirees were reportedly among those killed in the incident. The other six injured are being treated at a local hospital for minor cuts and burns.
Over 100 personnel along with 20 emergency vehicles were dispatched by local authorities to help fight the fire and start a search and rescue, which lasted until 4 a.m. Interviews by police and firefighters indicated that two staff members from the restaurant smelled a pungent gas aroma around an hour prior to the explosion, the Yinchuan government said in a statement.
The two employees found that the valve to the gas tank was broken, so they sent it off to another staffer to get the necessary parts to fix it. The explosion then purportedly took place as the valve was being replaced.
Chinese police have detained nine people and have frozen their assets, including the restaurant’s manager, employees, and shareholders, according to state media China Youth Daily.
Chinese President Xi Jinping stated that the incident was “heartbreaking” and that it was a “profound lesson,” state media reported.
Xi expressed that it is crucial to treat those injured and to comfort the families of those affected. He also ordered government authorities to carry out more safety-risk reviews and supervision in key sectors.
Explosions have not been uncommon in China with the incidents often being attributed to corruption and lack of safety training and regulations.
In January 2022, 16 people were killed by an alleged gas explosion in the city of Chongqing. A year prior, a gas pipe explosion at a market in Shiyan killed 26 people, injured 138, and led to 11 arrests. In 2019, 78 were killed with an additional 76 injured due to an explosion at a chemical plant in the eastern province of Jiangsu.
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