On the morning of May 23rd, a residential building in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, suddenly exploded, with the casualties unknown. Video footage shows a massive shockwave from the explosion, causing windows of multiple units to shatter. Local residents revealed that a elderly lady in the building was blown away instantly and fell from the 4th floor to the 1st floor, resulting in her death.
Numerous videos circulated on mainland Chinese social media on the 23rd, showing the explosion at a residential building near the intersection of Gubin Road and Hongxiang Street in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. A car recorder captured the moment of the explosion with a loud “bang,” sending debris and dust flying in all directions, even hitting an overpass.
Another video shows scattered debris on the ground below, with parked cars on the roadside being hit by the flying debris. The glass window frames of the 4th floor of the building in question were destroyed, while those of the 3rd and 5th floors suffered severe damage. Additionally, footage shows individuals who appear to be injured being carried on stretchers.
A resident living across the street from the affected building informed reporters that the windows of their own building were “shaking loudly” at the time of the explosion. The resident mentioned that the building in question is an older six-story structure.
“At that time, the old lady was lying on the ground, she fell from upstairs and was gone instantly, falling from the 4th floor, flying six to seven meters before hitting the ground,” the resident said, adding that a nearby household was also affected.
The resident further revealed that the old lady likely did not ignite a gas tank, stating, “If she did, there should have been a fire, but there was no fire inside the house.”
According to witnesses, there was a cordon set up, blocking access to the area. Emergency personnel from the Xiangfang District Emergency Management Bureau stated that the explosion was caused by a gas leak.