The death toll from an explosion at a hospital complex in northern China rose to at least 33 on Tuesday amid reports that explosives stored in a garage may have caused the tragedy. Rescuers found a total of 33 bodies amid rubble after the Monday morning blast at the Xuangang Coal Power Company's staff hospital in Shanxi province, China Central Television (CCTV) reported in its evening news. The first report of the blast which emerged on Monday afternoon said 15 were killed. Various state-run media reports said that between 40 and 200 people were injured in the explosion, some of whom were nearby villagers whose houses have been damaged. The powerful explosion, which occurred in a garage in a building in the hospital complex, flattened that building and six other houses nearby, the CCTV report said. It caused damage within one square kilometre of the blast site, with one end of a five-storey residential building for hospital staff completely destroyed. The blast site was less than 500 metres from the main building and the patients have since been moved to other local hospitals. Some of the windows of the main hospital building, which can accommodate 300 patients, were smashed.
The cause of the blast remained unknown, according to police contacted by AFP. But official press reports said investigators were looking into the possibility that explosives stored at the site were responsible.