China gas pipeline explosion kills 6, injures 300

Nanjing - Chinese state media says at least a half dozen people have been killed and more than 300 others have been injured in an chemical pipeline explosion in eastern China in the city of Nanjing.

The blast occurred in the city of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, at approximately 10 a.m. reported China National Radio (CNR) CNR reports said a pipeline carrying ethylene blew up on the grounds of an abandoned plastics factory, witnesses from China National Radio have visually confirmed and documented at least two dead bodies. Report from China are conflicting on current death total with some reporting 6 dead and other news outlets saying the death toll is much higher. About 300 people were injured and rushed to local hospitals for treatment, a website run by the provincial government said. Officials with the Chinese government are still trying to determine the total number of casualties from the blast, which blew out windows in buildings up to 300 yards away. "There are dozens of injured in our hospital. Their situations are not serious, most of them suffered burns," a doctor at the city's Zhongda hospital, who refused to identify herself. "Nobody has died in our hospital. There are injured people in every big hospital in Nanjing." The government has yet to release any new details or any current total number casualties from the explosion. A fire that broke out at the scene following the blast has been extinguished.