A powerful blast in the port city of Ningbo in China's east Zhejiang province yesterday killed two persons and injured over 30 others as the country's worst industrial explosion in three years destroyed nearby buildings and vehicles, officials said. Ningbo is one of the major international cargo and container shipping ports in the country. Scores of vehicles parked in the area were damaged. Rescuers were seen trying to pull people out of the rubble from flats whose roofs were blown off.

Rescue workers at the site of the explosion. Pic/AFP