China: Nine arrested after explosion at barbeque restaurant kills 31

Chinese authorities have arrested nine people after a gas explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the northwestern region of Ningxia killed 31 people and left one in a critical condition in hospital. The blast at the Fuyang restaurant in Yinchuan took place at 8.40pm on Wednesday, the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, a three-day public holiday in China.

Chinese media reported that the explosion of a liquefied petroleum gas tank on the first floor of the restaurant was followed by the detonation of a gas pipeline on the second floor and a fire on the staircase in between.

Media reports said the restaurant manager went out to buy a new valve for the gas tank after staff said they could smell a leak and that the explosion happened after he returned when a chef was fitting the new valve. Twenty-fire vehicles with more than 100 workers went to the scene and the fire was put out within 40 minutes, but the rescue operation continued for more than seven hours.

Medical staff, including burn and intensive care specialists. treated the injured. Six of the seven hospitalised were being treated for minor injuries, while one remained in a critical condition on Thursday.

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Yinchuan’s mayor Tao Shaohua on Thursday apologised for the accident, which he said was the most serious in Ningxia for years. “The cost is extremely heavy and the lesson is extremely painful,” he said. “We are deeply saddened and feel guilty.”

Mr Tao said the city would immediately start a safety campaign lasting a month, which would focus on risks connected to dangerous chemicals, mines, building sites and transport infrastructure as well as gas. China’s president Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to treat the injured and for the cause of the blast to be established and for those responsible to be punished.

He said all regions should check for similar risks and launch a campaign to promote workplace safety and enhance the overall security of key sectors.

The nine people arrested include the restaurant’s manager, shareholders and some staff. Authorities said their assets have also been frozen.

China has suffered a number of deadly gas explosions in recent years, sometimes caused by poor infrastructure and shoddy building standards. Wednesday’s explosion was the deadliest since a blast at a chemical plant in Jiangsu province in eastern China killed 78 people in March 2019.

A gas explosion in a vegetable market in Shiyan, in Hubei province, killed 26 people in June 2021 and an investigation found that the company in charge of maintaining a gas pipeline had been negligent, leading to the arrest of 11 people.

Twenty-nine people died in a fire at a hospital in Beijing in April this year, two months after a mining accident in Inner Mongolia killed 53 people.