A neighborhood fish fry restaurant in Beijing's Second Ring Road was rocked by an explosion yesterday, so large that it shattered windows of cars parked two stories below.
Details are still coming in, but preliminary reports say a gas canister exploded at the Yuzuoyuwang (鱼座鱼旺) restaurant in Xinjiekou, an area located near the Xizhimen and Jishuitan subway stations.
Although their numbers and severity are unconfirmed, victims injured by the blast are said to have been taken to hospital for medical treatment.
Photographs uploaded online show the windows of the second-story restaurant completely blown out, as is a window belonging to a car parked on the street below. Broken glass and debris are strewn throughout each of the photos.
Video taken at the scene show bloodied victims that include children.
Police, including black-suited teqin (special police), have cordoned off the scene, which does not to be on fire.
Gas canister explosions are commonly reported in the Chinese news, the latest being an enormous explosion last Thursday in Hangzhou that caused two fatalities and injured 55.
Xinjiekou itself is no stranger to gas explosions, having experienced one in 2009 explosion that injured 18 people. Elsewhere in Beijing, explosions killed six city residents in two separate incidents in 2014, while one the following year near Gulou killed one person.
Beijing firefighters also had to deal with an east-end apartment fire in Tonghui Gardens this afternoon.
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