On 21 June 2023, 31 people died and seven others were injured at the Fuyang Barbecue Restaurant ( zh, s=富洋烧烤店) in

Xingqing District Xingqing District (, Xiao'erjing: ) is one of three District (China), urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest China, Northwest China, bordering Inner Mongolia to th ...

Yinchuan Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut people, Tangut-led Western Xia, Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 C ...

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

, China, after a gas explosion occurred on the eve of the

Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節, first=t, p=Duānwǔ jié, cy=Dyūnńgh jit) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or earl ...

. The

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

was the deadliest in China since 2019, when 78 died in a blast at a chemical plant in the eastern province of

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

Explosion

According to the state broadcaster

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...

(CCTV), the explosion occurred at around 8:40 p.m. local time on a busy street, following a leak of a

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

tank inside the kitchen of the restaurant. Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the leak. Over a dozen firefighters battled the blaze while smoke billowed from a large opening in the front of the restaurant. The street was strewn with shards of glass and other debris. The

Ministry of Emergency Management The Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) is 24th-ranked Ministries of the People's Republic of China, executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, responsible for the country's emergency management, work safety, ...

said that more than 100 personnel and 20 vehicles from fire and rescue services were deployed to the location. A video from the social media platform

Douyin TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

showed first responders with ladders, attempting to reach victims that were trapped on the second floor.

Casualties

At least 31 people died in the explosion, with seven others injured. The casualties included high school students and retirees. Of those killed, many died by

smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (a kind of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...

Aftermath

The provincial government relocated 64 families from neighboring residential compounds to hotels.

Investigation

Local media reported that based on an initial inquiry by the

fire department A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organi ...

, an employee at the restaurant detected the odor of a

gas leak A gas leak refers to a leak of natural gas or another gaseous product from a pipeline or other containment into any area where the gas should not be present. Gas leaks can be hazardous to health as well as the environment. Even a small leak into ...

approximately one hour prior to the explosion. Subsequently, the employee identified a damaged valve on a liquefied gas tank and was in the midst of replacing it when the blast occurred. Nine people, including the restaurant's owner, shareholders, and staff were held by police following the explosion while their financial assets were ordered frozen.

Reactions

General Secretary of the Communist Party

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

urged for utmost efforts in providing medical care to the injured. He ordered an "all-out rescue and treatment of the injured" and requested strengthened safety measures. On 22 June 2023, Yinchuan authorities vowed to launch an investigation into relevant industries to avoid similar calamities in the future.

References

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