Gas explosion rocks major China city

A gas explosion at a restaurant ripped through a busy street in a major Chinese city on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring dozens, state media reported.

Dramatic footage shared by state-run People's Daily on social media showed the windows ripped out of several buildings in a street coated in dust and debris in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province in northern China.

The blast occurred Thursday morning on the residential street, which is lined with businesses, official news agency Xinhua said.

Rescuers found one person dead and 33 injured, and the cause of the explosion is under investigation, it added.

Rescue work was still ongoing.

Investigators have "preliminarily determined that the explosion occurred within a commercial and residential building," Liaoning's emergency response authority said in a social media post.

Photos published by the Liaoning emergency services showed rescuers in hard hats surrounded by debris.

Gas explosions are common in China due to weak safety standards and poor enforcement.

A blast in June killed 25 people and injured more than a hundred others when a gas line exploded in a residential compound in central China's Hubei province.

Eight people, including the general manager of the company that owned the gas pipe, were later detained after authorities found "unsound" safety practices and serious defects in the pipe.