Society

Gas blast kills 4 in Beijing apartment building

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-11 20:28

BEIJING- The death toll from a residential building blast has risen to four, with one person injured as of Monday afternoon after rescuers pulled more bodies out from debris in downtown Beijing, local authorities said.

Related readings: 1 killed in apartment building blast in Urumqi

Preliminary investigations suggest that fuel gas exploded, causing part of the two-floor apartment building to collapse, said a spokesman with the municipal government's information office.

The accident occurred at 8:27 am at the 5th Entrance of the No 3 apartment building in the 12th neighborhood of Heping Street, Chaoyang district.

It's unknown how many people were inside the building when the explosion occurred, but according to fire fighters, the collapsed part of the structure contained six apartments.

The rescues continued after the fire was extinguished, though rescuers using detection devices and sniffer dogs had found no signs of life by noon, according to Zhang Gaochao, an official with the city's fire bureau.

Rescuers also evacuated nearby buildings and a school, said the spokesman.

A few hours later in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a gas blast destroyed part of an apartment building in suburban Urumqi, the regional capital, leaving at least one person dead and nine others injured.

The Urumqi explosion occurred at around 2:20 pm in an apartment on the third floor of a six-floor building, causing its ceiling and floor to collapse, leaving holes in the brick walls and shattering windows.