Near a China kindergarten, an explosion killed at least seven people and injured 66 others Thursday.
Authorities continued to search for a cause of the blast, which happened at about 4:50 p.m. in Jiangsu province in eastern China, the South China Morning Post reported.
It happened minutes before school was dismissed for the day as parents waited to pick up their children, the newspaper reported, adding that initial reports indicated no children or teachers were among the casualties.
A witness said the explosion may have been triggered by a gas cylinder at a food stand outside the school.
Two people died at the scene and five others died at the hospital, Fox News reported.
It was unknown whether the blast was intentional, Fox News said, adding that children have been targeted in China, including attacks on schools in 2010 that killed 20 children and a knife attack last year that injured seven children.
Officials urged people to await the results of an investigation before drawing conclusions about the cause of the blast, The New York Times reported.
On Thursday, images of injured people, some clutching children, circulated on Chinese social media.
The industrial city is a railroad hub with construction equipment manufacturing and military facilities.
Twitter users expressed condolences.
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