Huaian, Jiangsu Province, China – Two individuals sustained injuries following an explosion at a barbecue eatery in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu on a Saturday afternoon. This incident marks the second destructive blast in the country within a week.
According to reports from state broadcaster CCTV, the explosion took place at 4:23 pm at a restaurant in Huaian, resulting in a fire that was quelled by the evening of the same day. Although the cause of the blast was not specified in the initial report, the city’s emergency management bureau confirmed that the two victims did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
Footage circulating on social media displayed severe damage to the building housing the restaurant, with the ground and first floors charred, windows shattered, and smoke billowing from the structure’s remnants. Mainland media quoted the restaurant owner, who mentioned that a cook was injured and subsequently hospitalized.
Huaian, a city with a population of 4.55 million located approximately 400km northwest of Shanghai, witnessed this explosion merely three days after a separate blast in Yanjiao, Hebei province, resulted in seven fatalities and left 27 others injured. Authorities attributed the Yanjiao explosion to a gas pipeline leak, highlighting ongoing safety concerns across the region.
In June, a fatal gas explosion at a restaurant in Ningxia, China, claimed the lives of 31 individuals, prompting a nationwide safety inspection campaign in response. As investigations into the recent incidents continue, concerns regarding restaurant safety and gas-related accidents persist in various regions of China.