12 killed, 138 injured in gas explosion in Central China’s Hubei; 913 households evacuated
湖北发生燃气爆炸，已经造成12人死亡，138人受伤，913户家庭被撤离，救援还在继续
A gas explosion in a residential community in Shiyan, Central China’s Hubei Province, on Sunday morning has killed 12 and injured 138 as of Sunday afternoon, as rescue work and investigations on what caused the explosion are still underway.
The 913 households close to the explosion site – a wet market at Yanhu community – have been evacuated, according to a press release provided by the Shiyan government on Sunday afternoon.
The market is a two-story building constructed in the early 1990s, with 19 shops on the first floor and a community activity room on the second floor, the press release said. There are another 46 stalls across the road from the building, according to the press release.
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management has sent a working team to Shiyan to guide the rescue work. The cause of the blast is still under investigation, a local official spokesperson surnamed Gao told the Global Times on Sunday.
The explosion took place at round 6 am at the community, and reportedly destroyed the wet market there and greatly affected residents in nearby buildings. “Hearing the loud bang, I immediately scrabbled beneath the table, thinking it was an earthquake,” a resident surnamed Liu, who owns a small restaurant some 20 meters away from the explosion site, told the Global Times via phone on Sunday.
6月13日早晨6点30左右，湖北十堰市一小区发生燃气爆炸，场面看得让人触目惊心，据居住在这里的市民讲；当时只听见一声巨响，房屋就开始猛烈的震动，开始的以为是地震，就赶紧跑出来查看情况才发现是因为爆炸导致的震动，有的市民被吓得惊魂未定，回想起刚刚的恐怖爆炸还心有余悸，但是他们都没有劫后余生的喜悦，因为事发突然，还有许多的市民来不及逃生，被困在倒塌的房屋中，情况非常紧急，随时都可能有生命危险。
