According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the explosion tore through the restaurant late on Wednesday on a popular thoroughfare in Yinchuan, the regional capital of the historically Muslim Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
According to state media The Paper, many persons who were carried out of the shop by rescuers after the explosion were unconscious.
Senior citizens and students from high schools were among the victims.
Employees became aware of the scent of cooking gas an hour before the explosion and found a broken gas tank valve.
According to Xinhua, when they attempted to mend it, it exploded.
The event took place at a location of Fuyang Barbecue, a franchise restaurant in Yinchuan well known for its stir-fried foods and grilled skewers, according to The Paper.
The two-story restaurant had 20 seats on the ground floor and had private dining rooms where patrons could also participate in karaoke on the second floor.
Some of the injured were receiving treatment at the hospital, according to a staff member in the emergency room at the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, who verified this to the Associated Press but declined to give her name because she was not authorized to speak to the media.
Han Chinese make up the majority of Yinchuan’s population, although Hui people, or Chinese Muslims, make up a third.
President Xi demands an overhaul of safety
Despite years of efforts to increase safety, gas and chemical explosion accidents are widespread in China.
After the explosion, President Xi Jinping sought emergency medical attention for the injured people as well as a safety review, according to Xinhua.
He pushed for actions to be taken right once to identify the accident’s cause and punish those responsible for it legally liable.
In order to increase workplace safety, Mr. Xi emphasized that all regions and associated departments should address “all types of risks and hidden dangers” and start campaigns.
The Ministry of Emergency Management of the central government announced on social media on Thursday morning that the search and rescue operation in the restaurant was finished, and that the cause of the explosion was being investigated.
Since a chemical warehouse explosion in 2015 in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people, the majority of them firefighters and police officers, the central government has promised tougher safety measures.
In that instance, several local authorities were charged with accepting bribes in order to ignore safety issues.
