Gas explosion kills 2, injures 8 at city residential building

By Tom Qian  |   2008-12-26  |     ONLINE EDITION

TWO people died and eight were injured in a natural gas explosion early this morning at a residential building in Shanghai's Baoshan District.

The two killed were a couple in their 80s.

Four of the injured were still being treated for non-life threatening injuries at Changhai Hospital in Yangpu. The others were released after treatment, according to an Eastday.com report.

The explosion happened about 12:40am at a residential building owned by a gas company on Sanmen Road. More than 10 apartments were damaged in the accident.

The third, fourth and fifth floors of the building caved-in due to the force of the blast.

"I heard a huge blast, than I knew nothing," an injured man surnamed Fu told the Website. "When I woke up again, I realized I had fallen from the fifth floor to the fourth floor."

Fu had bloodstains on his body and a frightened look in his eyes, according to the report.

A younger man with the same surname Fu also described the blast.

"I was using a computer when the explosion happened, which I thought was caused by the computer," the man was quoted as saying. "I thought it was ridiculous for a computer to explode like this.

"Then I grabbed onto something and found myself in the air. I let go and fell down to the apartment downstairs through a hole in the floor," Fu added. It was unclear if the two Fus were related.

The walls and balconies from the first to fifth floor of the six-floor building on Sanmen Road were seriously damaged.
Refrigerators and television sets were scattered around the building and shattered glass was found more than 100 meters from the site of the explosion.

Nearby residents told the Website that they heard a huge explosion and saw thick smoke.

"I was repairing my car more than one kilometer away and heard a loud 'peng' sound," a resident surnamed Zhang was quoted as saying.

About 70 residents in the building have been relocated to a nearby hotel.

Police and firemen are preventing anyone from entering the building.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, the report said.