Four people have been killed and 13 injured in a gas explosion at a six-story residential building in the Chinese city of Tianjin, according to Chinese state media.
One of the victims was trapped in the building for more than 10 hours until she was pulled out of the wreckage on Tuesday at 5:40 p.m. When she was rescued, her vital signs were already weak and she passed away shortly after being taken to the hospital.
State broadcaster CCTV later commented that the rescue work had been completed. He did not provide any details about the other three deaths. Fortunately, the injuries of the 13 survivors are not high risk.
The blast occurred around 7:15 a.m. in Tianjin's Beichen district. Photos from the scene showed the upper floors of the building collapsed with the roof still intact, but no obvious damage to neighboring units.
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, but it appears to point to deteriorating infrastructure after more than three decades of dizzying economic growth. The building was built in the 1980s.
China's Ministry of Emergency Management called for determining the cause as quickly as possible and conducting a comprehensive assessment to identify the risks of gas leaks and prevent such accidents in the future, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China is replacing decades-old infrastructure, with natural gas lines used for cooking, heat and power generation being a particular concern.
