Restaurant explosion in Dongguan kills 1, injures 31

A blast at a restaurant in South China's Guangdong province at noon Monday has left one person dead and 31 injured. The blast was caused by a gas leak in the restaurant's kitchen, according to local authorities.

The explosion happened at 12:10 pm in an office building named Zhongqiao Mansion on Qifeng Road in the Guancheng sub-district of Dongguan. The specific reason for the accident is still under investigation, a staffer surnamed Liu from the Dongguan government told the Global Times on Monday.

The restaurant, located on the fourth floor of the building, belongs to the Dongguan Branch of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec). All the casualties were employees at the branch, the business channel of the China Central Television said on its Sina Weibo.

The Guangdong Branch of Sinopec said the dead victim was a female employee of theirs. All the injured were sent to nearby hospitals and 11 of them have left after being treated, cnr.cn, the website of China National Radio, reported.

Yu Haipei, a lawyer who works in the same building, said on his Sina Weibo that he heard the explosion at about lunchtime when he was in his office on the 23rd floor of the building.

"I felt the whole floor shake violently," Yu said. "Looking out from my office, I saw lots of broken glass and chairs scattered on the ground and that at least two people were lying on the ground with blood on their faces."

He Yonghua, a reporter from the Guangzhou-based Nandu Daily, headed to the scene soon after the explosion.

"All the tables and chairs in the restaurant had been torn to pieces by the gas explosion, and several gas tanks were carried out from the hall," He told the Global Times.

A nurse surnamed Chen from the emergency department of the Dongguan-based Tungwah Hospital affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University told the Global Times that her hospital received 10 injured aged between 20 and 46.

"Seven of them are male and the rest are female," Chen said. "They have been placed in common wards and the intensive care unit."

Calls from the Global Times to the Dongguan Public Security Bureau, the Dongguan Branch of Sinopec and Zhongqiao Mansion went unanswered by press time on Monday.