A powerful explosion at a Chinese residential complex has left 10 people dead, scorching buildings and scattering debris across the northwestern Chinese town of Xinmin.
The local government in Shaanxi province said in a statement late Monday that 147 had been injured.
According to state broadcaster Xinhua, the blast took place at about 2 p.m in a prefabricated house which had been built inside a larger residential compound.
Rescue crews were combing through the rubble overnight in the hope of finding survivors and to discover the cause of the explosion.
The city hospital was damaged in the blast, as were several other buildings in the near vicinity, Xinhua said.
At this point, it’s unclear what caused the blast. Local media have reported that Fugu County, where Xinmin is located, has a large number of mining companies that would require explosives.
It is the latest in a series of deadly explosions in China — in 2015, more than 110 people were killed in Tianjin, close to Beijing, when a chemical warehouse blew up.
Earlier this year, a warehouse storing chemicals exploded in Jiangsu province, although no one was injured.
