China explosion: 7 dead, 66 injured in blast at kindergarten in Fengxian

At least seven people died and 66 others were injured in an explosion outside a kindergarten in Fengxian county in China's Jiangsu province on Thursday. The cause of the blast is still not known.

The blast took place as parents were picking up children from the school at around 4.50 pm, Xinhua news agency reported citing the emergency office of Xuzhou city. Police officials said that they have launched an investigation into the explosion at Chuangxin Kindergarten.

Chinese media reports suggested that people were hurt in the blast while photos posted on social media apparently from the site of the blast showed children and adults lying on the ground with several of them bleeding. Some also appeared to be unconscious with clothes, shoes and other items lay on the ground beside pools of blood.  

An official at the police station in Fengxian county in Jiangsu province told AFP that the police were still investigating the cause of the explosion. "There were some children injured," the official added.

"About 5 pm, we heard a blast and thought it might have been a gas explosion at a nearby food vendor. Many people could be dead," a local shop owner was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying citing online news portal Sohu.

Kindergarten schools in China have been targeted in the past as part of revenge attacks carried out by those bearing grudges against their neighbours and the society which is why the Chinese government has tightened security around several schools. Guards equipped with truncheons have been deployed while gates and other barriers have also been installed around schools, the Associated Press reported.

In May this year, a school bus carrying kindergarten children was set on fire by the driver himself as he was angry at losing overtime wages. Around 11 children, a teacher and the driver died in the incident.