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

A resident named Zhong Weibin said residents called the gas supplier, the Jilin subsidiary of CNPC Kunlun Natural Gas Co. Ltd., to repair the pipeline after locals smelled gas Sunday evening.

Another resident surnamed Sun said the local authorities had begun to evacuate people from buildings on Jiefang Road at about 11 p.m. Sunday.

The explosion has disrupted power and gas supplies to the communities, but heating and water supplies are still operating.

It was the second natural gas blast in the city in a month. On Dec. 24, an explosion occurred in a community on Xuzhou Road, about 10 km from Monday's site of blast. There were no reports of fatalities in that accident, but several people were injured. The local authorities have yet to reveal the results of an investigation into the accident.