One firefighter has been killed and 13 other people injured in a fire at a breakfast restaurant in Changsha county, Central China’s Hunan Province on Wednesday morning. The diner caught fire and fire engines arrived at the scene quickly before the explosion, local media reported. The injured have been sent to a nearby hospital with the cause of the fire still under investigation.

A merchant near the scene said he saw a fire in the restaurant and was about to call the police when a fire engine arrived. "At that time, the fire was not that high, and the firefighters came to the scene really quickly. Suddenly, I heard an explosion," the merchant said. The restaurant and a lottery store next door were badly damaged, with the wall between them almost gone in the blast, the merchant said.

Owners of other stores near the explosion told the media that as it happened early in the morning, the street and the restaurant were relatively empty.

Now, all people near the street have been evacuated, and the scene is being attended to by emergency workers.

A video posted online showed a lot of debris from the explosion.

A staff member from the local street council said the case is now under investigation. And staff from the city's 120 health emergency department said that multiple ambulances have been sent to the scene.

Global Times