NANJING - An explosion toppled a building in eastern China's Jiangsu province on Tuesday morning, killing at least 10 people, state media reported.

Nine others have been hospitalised, and three of them are in critical condition, Xinhua news agency quoted local authorities as saying.

Several people are still buried under the rubble of the three-storey building.

The explosion occurred around 7 am in the city of Suzhou, an industrial hub in the Yangtze River Delta.

A preliminary investigation showed that the blast was caused by a gas leak, Xinhua reported.