Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment a gas leak in a woman’s kitchen leads to an explosion which rocks a residential community and blows a hole in her wall.
CCTV cameras captured the moment the multi-storey building shook on the morning of 24th October when the cylinder explosion occurred.
Residents in the city of Handan in China’s northern province of Hebei called the fire service after the woman’s flat was found to be on fire.
Video taken by neighbours shows flames spewing out the home, which has been left with a gaping hole where the kitchen window and wall used to be.
The local fire service said it was sent to tackle the blaze at around 8:30am local time.
The fire was put out in roughly an hour, with the female homeowner taken to hospital with minor burn injuries.
The gas cylinder is believed to have been in use at the time, but the resident is not thought to have been inside the kitchen at the time of the blast.
Debris from the explosion scattered across the ground and numerous parked cars were reportedly damaged by flying pieces of rubble and steel.
Windows in adjacent buildings were also shattered, but no other residents were harmed.
The authorities said the accident was still being investigated.
Despite the risks of similar explosions, residents in second-and third-tier Chinese cities still rely heavily on natural gas fire cooking and heating due to the relatively cheap cost of the natural resource.
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