Major explosion in Chinese city ‘kills two, injures dozens’

Two people are reported killed and dozens injured after an explosion in a port city in China.

The blast in Ningbo knocked down buildings and left streets littered with damaged cars and debris, the government and news reports said.

The early morning explosion struck a riverfront neighbourhood, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xinhua said it occurred at a factory, but a police statement said the cause was under investigation.

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At least 30 others were taken to hospitals, according to Huanqiu.com, a website operated by the newspaper Global Times.

Sunday’s explosion knocked down residential buildings, but they were vacant and in the process of being demolished, Huanqiu.com said.

It added there might have been people in the area collecting scrap for recycling.

Bystanders said the explosion might have been caused by a gas pipeline that was damaged during demolition work, but the Ningbo gas company said it had no lines in the area, the newspaper China Youth Daily reported on its website.–AP