WUHU, China, Oct. 11 (UPI) — A gas explosion at a restaurant in eastern China’s Anhui Province on Saturday killed at least 17 people, including 14 students.
Xinhua news agency, China’s state media entity, quoted local authorities as saying the blast occurred after a gas cylinder caught fire in the restaurant, which was located on the first floor of a six-story building in the Jinghu District of Wuhu.
The students, whose ages ranged from 15 to 20, came from multiple schools in the area, and three other men between 33 and 59 years of age, including a father and son, also perished in the blast.
Officials say many of the victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Owner Zhang Baoping, 38, and his wife — both of whom were injured — reportedly attempted to douse the flames before the explosion.
More than 30 firefighters took about an hour and a half to put out the fire before the bodies could be recovered.
Baoping, who reportedly opened the restaurant Aug. 18 without a license, is currently under investigation.
Late last month Chinese authorities are reported to have apprehended a suspect accused of carrying out a series of bombings in the city of Liuzhou, in the Guangxi province.
Large mid-August explosions at a chemical storage plant in Tianjin, China, meanwhile, were reported to have killed more than 100 people.
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