Two people have been killed and dozens are reported injured after an explosion in a port city in China.
The blast in Ningbo knocked down buildings and left streets littered with damaged cars and debris, the government and news reports said.
The early morning explosion struck a riverfront neighbourhood at around 9am, the official Xinhua News Agency and other outlets reported.
Debris is seen at the site, covering a car, after a blast in Jiangbei District on November 26, 2017 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province of China
A view of destroyed buildings and a sea of rubble in front of them after the powerful blast Sunday morning
A view of damaged buildings at the site of an explosion in Ningbo, China’s eastern Zhejiang province
Rescue workers work at the site of a blast in Ningbo which has claimed the lives of two people
A rescue worker inspects the damage in the foreground as his colleagues use a ladder to climb down from a destroyed building in Ningbo
Xinhua said it occurred at a factory but a police statement said the cause was under investigation.
In a separate report, China Central Television (CCTV) did not refer to a factory, but said the force of the explosion shattered windows and punched holes in the walls of buildings as much as a kilometre away.
CCTV images showed a few flattened cars and a low-rise building with a collapsed wall.
The state broadcaster said it was not a gas explosion, without elaborating further.
CCTV said two people were killed while two others who had been injured were in serious condition.
Two people were killed and two more seriously injured, the district office announced on its social media account.
At least 30 others were taken to hospitals, according to Huanqiu.com, a website operated by the newspaper Global Times.
Sunday’s blast knocked down residential buildings but they were vacant and in the process of being demolished, Huanqiu.com said.
It added there might have been people in the area collecting scrap for recycling.
Xinhua news agency said it occurred at a factory but a police statement said the cause was under investigation
In a separate report, China Central Television (CCTV) did not refer to a factory, but said the force of the explosion shattered windows and punched holes in the walls of buildings as much as a kilometre away
Bystanders said the explosion might have been caused by a gas pipeline that was damaged during demolition work, but the Ningbo gas company said it had no lines in the area, the newspaper China Youth Daily reported on its website.
Photos on News.163.com showed an injured woman being carried away on a man’s back and what appeared to be the body of man lying in the debris of a wrecked building.
Video clips on multiple websites showed a white cloud of smoke rising above the explosion site and rolling across nearby buildings.
Television images showed cars twisted and mangled by the force of the explosion, a plume of grey smoke rising in the sky, and debris scattered for dozens of metres (yards) around the site of the incident.
Aerial images posted by the People’s Daily on Twitter showed at least four wrecked buildings around a wasteland of concrete debris.
Rescuers wearing helmets were seen carrying injured people away from the area, while others stood over a person lying on the ground.
Pieces of concrete, wood and glass were strewn across a large area and metal gates were twisted open near windows that had been blown out of buildings.
Bystanders said the explosion might have been caused by a gas pipeline that was damaged during demolition work, but the Ningbo gas company said it had no lines in the area, the newspaper China Youth Daily reported on its website
A rescue worker carries a piece of wooden fencing which was destroyed in the blast
Television images showed cars twisted and mangled by the force of the explosion, a plume of grey smoke rising in the sky, and debris scattered for dozens of metres (yards) around the site of the incident
Rescuers wearing helmets were seen carrying injured people away from the area, while others stood over a person lying on the ground
China has been rocked by several industrial accidents in recent years.
In 2015, giant blasts killed at least 165 people in the northern port city of Tianjin, causing more than £750million in damage and sparking widespread anger over a perceived lack of transparency by officials about the accident’s causes and its environmental impact.
A government enquiry into the Tianjin accident released in February 2016 recommended 123 people be reprimanded.
The official who was mayor at the time of the accident was sentenced to 12 years in prison for graft in September.
Huang Xingguo, 62, had also headed the disaster response committee.