BEIJING, April 10: An explosion at a hospital in China’s northern province of Shanxi on Monday destroyed several buildings and killed 27 people, mostly staff and relatives, Xinhua news agency said, adding some were still missing.

The source of the blast was a garage in the Xuangang Coal and Power Co Hospital in the small city of Yuanping, the agency said.

A two-storey residential building and several houses were destroyed, Xinhua said. Buildings within a radius of one kilometre suffered damage. A five-storey staff building was damaged seriously.

“Most of the victims were hospital staff and their family members,” Li Jianzhang, an official with the Xuangang company, was quoted as saying.

An official said the cause of the explosion was unknown.

—Reuters