Beijing restaurant destroyed by explosion

The restaurant in the Xinjiekou area of central Beijing collapsed. Officials and the official Xinhua News Agency said the cause was a gas cylinder explosion at about 9am Friday. Such blasts are not uncommon in restaurants and homes in China due to lax safety and building standards. There were no indications of a bomb.

Police said they did not know of any deaths or people missing from the blast.

Police on the scene told The Associated Press it was a Xinjiang restaurant and its name on a list of Beijing restaurants was Xinjiang Kashgar restaurant.