A suspected gas explosion has torn through a restaurant in Shenyang, in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, leaving three people dead and dozens injured.
Video footage has emerged on social media appearing to show the aftermath of the deadly blast that ripped through the building on Thursday morning.
It shows a street that has been filled with rubble and a building, some seven storeys high, ruined by an explosion.
Nearby buildings also appear to be damaged while the full extent of the blast has not yet been confirmed by officials.
A major rescue operation is now said to be underway after emergency services rushed to the scene.
A number of buildings have been damaged
Dozens of people have been rushed to hospital following the blast which happened at about 8.20 am according to local reports.
Officials said that three people had died and more than 30 were injured after the ‘suspected gas explosion.’
At least 110 emergency service personnel and 25 fire pumps were deployed to the incident on Taiyuan South Street in Heping District.
Officials confirmed the fatalities and the injured in a statement and said: “Many shops and residential buildings in the surrounding area were affected.
One person has died and dozens are injured
“After the incident, public security and fire fighting in Heping District, Emergency, Urban Construction, Xinhua Sub-district Office, gas power supply and water supply and other relevant departments have rushed to the scene for emergency response.”
They also said an investigation had been launched into the cause of the explosion.
The explosion isn’t the first blast to have rocked the region this year.
Last month eight people were killed and five injured in an explosion at a residential building in Dalian.
A liquid gas storage tank at an apartment building leaked and caused an explosion at about midday.
Eight people were killed and five others were treated at a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Shenyang is the capital and largest city of China’s northeast Liaoning Province.
It has a population of more than eight million people.