China barbecue restaurant explosion kills 31 after gas leak

At least 31 people have been killed when an explosion ripped through a restaurant in the north-western Chinese city of Yinchuan on the eve of a popular local holiday, according to state media.

“A leak of liquefied petroleum gas … caused an explosion during the operation of a barbecue restaurant,” state news agency Xinhua said of the Wednesday evening blast, citing the regional Communist party committee.

Seven more people were receiving medical treatment, the agency said, with one of them in a “critical condition”. Two others had suffered severe burns, two had minor injuries and two had scratches caused by flying glass, Xinhua said.

The explosion at about 8:40pm local time on Wednesday took place at the Fuyang Barbecue Restaurant in a residential area of downtown Yinchuan, the capital of the Ningxia autonomous region.