AN explosion of illegally-stored dynamite obliterated a central China apartment building and, devastated much of its neighbourhood. The death toll is 77 but is expected to reach 100, with hundreds injured, officials said yesterday.
The blast erupted on Wednesday evening in the building's basement, where resident Mr He Geng had illegally stored 10 tonnes of military dynamite. Mr He, who ran an illegal explosives firm, was believed to be among those killed, the television news said.
"It was terrifying, "a rescue coordinator said by telephone from City-South Town, a suburb of Shaoyang city in central Hunan province where the explosion hit just after supper time. "At first we thought it was an earthquake.
Television footage showed hundreds of soldiers, police and volunteers digging by hand and with tools and bulldozers through the rubble on Wednesday night and Thursday.
"The entire street has been levelled," a local television official said by telephone. All that remained of the five-storey apartment block was a crater 30 metres across and 10 metres deep, the official Hunan Daily reported yesterday.
The official toll stood at 77 dead but was certain to rise above 100 as soldiers pulled bodies from the rubble of several collapsed five-storey buildings, the rescue official said.
"Workers are still digging through the rubble and expect to find more bodies. We do not expect to find more survivors," he said. "The death toll will rise above 100."
He said a final tally was made more difficult by the failure of many migrant workers to register their residency.
More than 400 people were injured and 117 were admitted to hospitals in a serious condition, the Hunan Daily said. It added' that everything within 100 metres was flattened, including the homes of 40 families.
"Our offices are a kilometre away, but it blew out all of our windows," a rescue official said.
Provincial experts had joined an inquiry into what the Hunan Daily called an "extraordinarily serious accident".
Television news said investigators were still trying to determine what sparked the explosion, which cut water and electricity supplies to the area.
The blast hit the city of 200,000 just before 8 p.m. Many survivors were crushed and unconscious and suffered broken bones, doctors said. Others were hurt in a rain of bricks, metal and glass or from the sheer force of the blast.
"Most of our patients were either crushed or struck by flying masonry,' one doctor said.
What were expected to be the last two survivors were extricated late on Thursday - 20 hours after the blast, said a doctor at Number Two People's Hospital.
It is not uncommon for private mining families in China to store explosives and detonators in their homes, contributing to a nationwide plague of mining accidents. The province of Hunan is dotted by private mines.