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Chinese market gas blast kills 12

At least 12 people were killed and more than 100 others injured after a gas explosion tore through a residential community in central China on Sunday, official media reported.

A gas blast at a market in central China has killed at least 12 and seriously injured another 37, China Central Television reported on Sunday.

The explosion took place at about 6.30am at the Yanhu market in Shiyan, a city in Hubei province, when many residents were having breakfast or buying vegetables in the market, according to the report. A total of 150 people were rescued and 138 were injured, the report added.

It was the latest serious accident in China that caused multiple deaths. A chemical leak on Saturday killed at least eight people and injured another three in Guiyang, the capital of the southern province of Guizhou, on Saturday.

A notice issued by the Shiyan government said it was looking into the cause of the blast.

An initial investigation concluded that the blast was caused by a gas pipeline, according to cqcb.com, a news portal run by the Chongqing government.

Video footage published on the online news portal Btime.com showed the market had been destroyed, with almost all the windows and doors in the two-storey building shattered and the streets filled with rubble.

The ground floor was occupied by food stalls while the second floor contained residential flats. A gas pipeline ran beneath the building.

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