The fire broke out at 12:25 p.m. (0425 GMT) in a restaurant in a residential area in Liaoning Province’s Liaoyang City, the report said.

China’s President Xi Jinping called the fire “a deeply sobering lesson” and urged local officials to quickly determine its cause, treat the injured, and hold those responsible to account, state news agency Xinhua said.

Gas leaks caused at least two high-profile explosions in residential areas last year, with a blast at a restaurant in China’s northern province of Hebei killing 2 people and injuring 26 others in March and an explosion in a highrise building in southern Shenzhen in September killing one person.