12 killed, 150 injured in powerful gas explosion in central China

Beijing: A powerful gas line explosion ripped through a residential neighbourhood in central China's Hubei Province on Sunday early morning, killing at least 12 people and injuring 150 others, including 39 critically.

The blast took place at about 6:30 am local time in the Zhangwan district of Shiyan city in Hubei province, killing 12 people and trapping a large number of people under the rubble of their homes.

Authorities have rescued nearly 150 people from the area, including 39 with serious injuries and rushed them to hospitals, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a thorough probe into the cause of the blast and ordered all-out efforts to rescue the injured.

In light of numerous accidents at companies and on campuses, all must work together to shoulder their responsibilities, strengthen their political comprehension and root out the causes of such hazards," Xi said.

Images and video footages circulating on social media platform Weibo showed rescue workers pulling out people from the wreckage of flattened houses.

The explosion, which took place at a two-story building built in the early 1990s that includes pharmacies, restaurants and other businesses, destroyed and affected residents in nearby buildings, state-run Global Times reported.

People from 913 households close to the explosion site have been evacuated, according to the local government.