The blast took place in a residential complex in Taiyuan, the capital city of northern China's Shanxi province around 500 kilometres (310 miles) from the capital Beijing.

The fire department received a report around 1:00 pm (0500 GMT) notifying them of the explosion which injured 17 people, including four seriously, the official Xinhua news agency said.

"Fire and rescue personnel are currently entering the building where the explosion occurred to conduct a door-to-door search and rescue," Xinhua added.

On Tuesday, a restaurant fire in the northeastern province of Liaoning killed 22 people and injured three.

The country has seen a spate of such deadly incidents in recent months.

This month, 20 people died in a fire at a nursing home in northern China's Hebei province.

And in January, a blaze at a vegetable market in Zhangjiakou city, northwest of Beijing, killed eight people and injured 15.

A month before that, nine people died in a fire at a construction site in eastern China's Rongcheng city.