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Bar owner 'stored explosives'
06/07/2007 11:38 - (SA)
Beijing - The owner of a Chinese karaoke bar where 25 people were killed in a huge blast was also a coal mine boss who stored explosives in the basement of the club, locals said in a press report on Friday.
Students, birthday revellers and the venue's owner, Qu Hau, died in Wednesday night's explosion, which ripped through the two-storey bar in a coal mining town in northeastern Liaoning province.
Qu was a successful local businessman, who many residents of Tianshifu say stored explosives used in his mines in the basement of the Tianying Karaoke Hall and Bath House, the Beijing News reported.
The official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday police were interviewing Qu's wife, although it gave no explanation for the explosion, which also injured 33 people, four seriously.
Investigators probing the blast said 300 square metres had been flattened and the extent of the damage was consistent with a large amount of TNT explosives, according to the Beijing News.
"There must have been more than one ton (that exploded)," the unnamed investigator told the newspaper.
Police and local officials contacted by AFP were unable to confirm any details.
Tianshifu town has up to 400 coal mines nearby, as well as an explosives factory that produces TNT, the paper said.
Storing explosives in unsafe places has led to similar disasters in China.
Thirty-five people were killed at a hospital in China's northern Shanxi province last year after dynamite that was stored there blew up.
Many of the victims in the karaoke bar were students partying after examinations, witnesses told AFP on Thursday.
The Beijing News reported eight shop workers who had been celebrating a birthday party in the entertainment complex's restaurant were among those killed.
- AFP
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