(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-24 15:35

Shanghai -- Four people were confirmed dead and dozens injured following an explosion in a Shanghai gas station on Saturday morning, police and witnesses said.

A person watches the debris of a blast at a gas station in Shanghai November 24, 2007. Four people were confirmed dead and dozens injured by the explosion. [Xinhua]

Among the dead were two maintenance workers at the station and two passers-by, one of whom was a cyclist, local police said.

The cyclist, a man, died when he was struck on the head by a hail of debris from the blast, although he was about one kilometer from the site.

An unidentified woman was also killed in the accident.

Investigators initially blamed the accident on improper operations by the workers, who were doing maintenance work on the storage facility at the gas station at No. 909, Third Pudong Road.

The explosion, reported at 7:50 am, caused strong shockwaves that damaged a bus and injured several of its passengers.

The shockwaves also shattered windows in a supermarkets and several residential buildings nearby.

Though no official figure was immediately released on the exact number of those injured, 23 people, aged from 18 to 76, were being treated at Punan Hospital near the explosion site. Most of them were passers-by who sustained head injuries from the blast debris.

Several others were being treated at the Pudong branch of Renji Hospital.

The gas station, an outlet of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), was reportedly under renovation and was to re-open later this month.

CNPC's Shanghai branch declined comment.