A GAS explosion in a car maintenance shop in Buji Subdistrict, Longgang District, on Friday killed four people including two children, according to the Longgang government.

The explosion happened at a shop on Ronghua Road at around 12:30 p.m. when two employees, surnamed Li and Chen, the latter of which was killed in the blast, were attempting to fill a red plastic bucket with residual gas they had collected from car tanks.

While Chen was pulling the bucket, electrostatic sparks ignited the fuel vapor which caused the explosion, immediately spreading smoke and fire throughout the 100-square-meter shop.

A video that has circulated online, which was allegedly uploaded by residents in the neighborhood, shows that cars parked in front of the shop were also badly burnt by the blast.

The deaths include the wife and daughter of the car shop’s owner and the employee surnamed Chen, as well as the daughter of an eyeglass shop owner, according to a report in the Southern Metropolis Daily.

The neighboring shop owners tried to extinguish the fire to no avail. Firefighters arrived in 10 minutes. The fire was put out at 2:07 p.m.

The case is still under investigation.(Han Ximin)