HONG KONG — At least one person was killed and another was injured in a series of explosions Friday afternoon in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun, the local authorities said.

The police are tentatively treating the explosions as “a criminal case,” the propaganda office of the Changchun Municipal Communist Party Committee said in a statement posted online. The blasts began when a car burst into flames in an underground parking lot, followed by explosions from an apartment building at the Wanda Shopping Plaza, according to the statement.

2019-01-25【突发】16时左右
长春万达广场写字楼发生连环爆炸，总计炸20余次，据传目前已有一人被炸身亡，并有多人受伤。 pic.twitter.com/VZcsPfJFAo

The explosions sent pedestrians running from the shopping center. Cellphone videos posted on social media showed a series of blasts, some high in the apartment tower and others near the ground level of the building.

Beijing Youth Daily, a state-owned newspaper, reported that some residents said they saw explosives being thrown from the building, but a local official would not confirm those accounts.

In one video posted to social media, more than 15 blasts can be heard, and at least one was proceeded by an object falling through the air. Some explosions produced loud booms, while others were more modest, like fireworks.

In July, a man set off an explosion outside the United States Embassy in Beijing, badly injuring his hand. The police said he suffered from hallucinations and had been diagnosed with a paranoid personality disorder. A lighter, firecracker fragments and three unexploded firecrackers were found at the scene.

Elsie Chen contributed research from Beijing.

Source: Read Full Article