Hundreds of people queue up in Hangzhou to give blood to victims injured in blast

More than 350 people registered to donate blood, more than 10 times the usual number. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM CHINANEWS.COM

Hundreds of people in China's eastern Hangzhou city queued up on Friday (July 22) to donate blood after an explosion on a busy street there killed two people and injured 45.

Photos of scores of people queuing up to give blood and help the injured were reported by Chinese media on Friday and Saturday.

The blast at a restaurant in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, on Friday morning damaged passing vehicles and wounded pedestrians, and a fire engulfed the eatery.

The victims need large amounts of blood for treatment, and authorities posted a call for blood donation on social media platform Sina Weibo, saying blood for types A and O were needed urgently.

Many citizens in Hangzhou responded to the call, turning up to give blood at medical centres and mobile blood donation centres, Chinanews.com said in a report.

The donors reportedly queued up in droves in the midst of a heatwave, with temperatures nearing 40 deg C.

More than 350 people had registered to donate blood near midnight on Friday.

After physical checks were conducted, 60 people successfully donated a total of 18,000cc of blood.

A volunteer at the blood donation drive told Chinanews.com that the number of blood donors that day increased by 70 to 80 per cent from a few days ago, before the blast.

"Many of them rushed down after work, and there were more and more people at night," he said. "As this mobile blood donation centre is full and can no longer receive more donors, authorities will be arranging for more centres and directing other donors there."

A donor who gave his name as Yuan Jun said he queued up from the afternoon and managed to donate blood only at night.

Said the traffic policeman: "It just so happens that they asked for A type blood and that's my type. Actually I came here this time to 'return blood', because I was previously in a car accident and other people donated blood to me. This time they needed me, and I came. I'm a Hangzhou citizen, I must help Hangzhou."

The director of Zhejiang Province's Blood Centre, Jin Zhijian, told Chinanews.com that about 30 people turn up to donate blood on regular occasions.

"But today, there've already been more than 300," he said. "As long as the citizens want to donate blood, we will not stop working."

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