S China school explosion kills 2, injures 17

Two people have been killed and 17 others injured in an explosion near a school in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday morning.

A man and a woman were killed outright, and the injured, who include 10 students, were taken to hospital.

The rest of the injured are adults who were accompanying students to school or passersby, according to the publicity department of Guilin City, site of the explosion.

The explosion struck about 7:10 a.m. as the students were arriving at the Balijie Primary School in Lingwu County of Guilin, a resort city in Guangxi.

Witnesses told Xinhua a man riding a three-wheeled motorcycle passed the entrance to the school when the blast happened.

A Xinhua reporter saw a body lying at the site, which was cordoned off by local police.

"First, the motorcycle caught fire and then exploded with a tremendous noise that could be heard from far, far away," a witness told Xinhua.

A dozen motorcycles are scattered around the blast site and the window panes of cars and stores by the school were damaged.

Police are investigating the cause of blast.

Safety inspections will be conducted across the city of Guilin, in a search for illegal explosives , said a city government press release.

Guilin, a popular tourist city in Guangxi, is famous for its karst scenery.