Gas explosion leaves 12 dead, 138 hurt

President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out efforts to rescue the injured after a gas explosion in Central China's Hubei province on Sunday morning.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, asked authorities to console the families of the casualties and investigate the accident in a timely manner.

The blast happened at around 6:30 am at a two-story building in Zhangwan district of Shiyan city. The first floor of the building is a market and some people live on the second floor.

By 14:30, rescuers pulled out 150 people from the debris, 12 of them dead and 138 injured, including 37 critically hurt. All the injured are receiving treatment at hospital.

The cause of the accident is under probe.