Blast Shakes Dongzhimen

Yesterday afternoon at 3:20 an explosion went off on Dongzhimen Wai Dajie in front of the Sky Plaza building.

According to reports, one person was injured, Michael Charles a 30 year old American student studying Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University. He was taken to the PLA Military General Hospital where he was treated for a small gash in his leg and released early last night.

The blast caused a large hole around 1.5 ft in diameter in the plastic backing of a newspaper stand (see image).

Mr. Jiang was at the bus station across the street from the blast when it happened. “The noise was very loud, like a clap of thunder.” After the blast his ears rang and he saw a large white mushroom cloud of smoke, rising from the sidewalk in front of Sky Plaza 20 meters into the air, but he did not see any flames. He said there was a burnt smell to the air, but did not smell any gunpowder. Mr. Jiang said at the scene of the explosion there were bits of paper, and traces of a burnt package.

By 4:30 the road near the blast was crowded with dozens of emergency vehicles and the parking lot in front of Sky Plaza was cordoned off by police and traffic in the area was temporarily halted.

Police used vacuum cleaners to collect evidence from the floor of the blast site then placed their findings in a clear plastic bag. Officers inspected the surrounding area; they turned over trashcans and swept the contents from the roof of the newspaper stand into a plastic bag. According to a criminal investigation specialist, the police will be able to determine the type of explosive which caused the blast with the evidence collected.