A blast occured early Monday morning in an apartment block in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province.

The death toll from a natural gas blast in an apartment building in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province, early Monday has risen to three.

More than 20 people injured in the explosion had been taken to local hospitals, said local sources.

Firefighters had contained a blaze at the site by 10 a.m., four hours after the explosion ripped through a building in Changyi Community.

Firefighters said the explosion might have been triggered after a motorist started his car in a garage on the ground floor of a four-story annex to a tower block office building owned by Sinopec Jilin Group.

The massive explosion shattered all the windows of the 16-story office building, and damaged three surrounding apartment buildings, where residents are busy clearing debris from their homes.

About 200 to 300 residents are waiting outdoors in temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius for authorities to allocate plastic film to fix in their empty window frames.