16 held for blast in residential building in China

Beijing : Sixteen people were detained today in connection with an explosion in a residential building in northern China that claimed five lives, local police said.

The explosion in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s Baotou city was caused by spontaneous combustion of explosives that were illegally stored in the building, police was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.

The blast took place onSaturday in the multi-storey building. A part of the building collapsed due to the explosion, killing five people and injuring 25 others.

PTI