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September 20, 2014

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Five killed, 16 injured in suspected gas blast at noodle store in Fujian

FIVE people were killed and 16 were injured yesterday in an explosion at a noddle shop in Xiamen, south China’s Fujian Province.

The incident happened about 11:30am at the cafe on the ground floor of an apartment building on Jiahe Road in the city’s Huli District, the Xiamen Evening News reported.

An initial investigation by city government said the blast, which damaged four neighboring buildings, was likely caused by a gas leak. A woman who suffered minor injuries said she became aware of a strong smell of gas shortly before the explosion.

A man working at a nearby office building said the windows of an office on the eighth floor were blown out in the blast and that his own office was hit by flying shards of glass, the Xiamen Daily report said.

A gas company worker was quoted as saying that two 50-kilogram liquefied gas tanks were found at the scene, both of which were past their expiration date and might have been to blame for the leak. Though residents of the apartment building above are on mains gas, the cafe used a bottled supply, the Xiamen Daily reported.

Of the people injured, 10 were in a critical condition at the Xiamen Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine as of 3pm yesterday, while the six others had returned home, officials said.

Five doctors from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University are helping treat the wounded, they said.

Four of the people killed were men, while the injured included two infants aged 1 month and 5 months, and a 2-year-old boy.

The month-old baby, who was asleep at the back of the cafe at the time of the blast, suffered minor injuries after being hit by flying glass, the Xiamen Daily reported.

No details were released of the injuries to the second baby or toddler. A witness, however, said the tot and his mother were unable to get a taxi to take them to hospital and had to rely on a Good Samaritan who gave them a lift on his moped.

Several people complained to the vice mayor of Xiamen that they had been refused rides by taxis, media reports said.




 

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