Police says explosion in N. China's residential building a criminal case

Chinese police said on Wednesday explosion in a residential building in north China on Jan. 15, which left five people dead and five injured, was a criminal case.

A man deliberately set off dynamite in his bedroom, triggering a gas blast that killed himself and four other people in the building, said police of Datong City, Shanxi province.

The blast occurred at 8:57 a.m. on Jan. 15 in the No. 15

Building of Longgangyuan Community, Datong.

They said in the third floor bedroom of Zhang Xiaoxu, where the initial explosion occurred, traces of nitroamine explosives were found. Zhang's death was also caused by dynamite.

Damages to the body of another victim on the third floor, Hu Ping, were caused by a gas explosion. A liquefied petroleum gas cylinder was found in Hu's room.

Four people died on the spot in the blast and six were injured, one of whom died in hospital on Jan. 19.

The victims were a family living on the fourth floor and a couple living on the third floor, said the police.

Two of the injured were discharged from hospital on Jan. 22 and the other three are still in hospital and described as stable.

The entire west side of the six-storey building collapsed. The doors and windows of six neighbouring houses were damaged to varying degrees.

Electricity and water supplies have resumed in all the six buildings, and repair work on the doors and windows was almost complete, a local official.

Source: Xinhua