Two suspects in the Shanxi hospital blast that claimed 31 lives surrendered to police on Thursday.

Wang Jinsheng and Wang Guohua had been in hiding since the explosion on April 10, and police had offered a reward of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) for information leading to the apprehension of Wang Jinsheng.

Wang Jinsheng, 41, is an administrative officer of the staff hospital affiliated to the Xuangang Coal and Electricity Company in Yuanping city, Shanxi Province.

A police statement said he admitted storing more than two tons of explosives, which he bought for use in his private coal mine, in a garage of the hospital 10 days earlier, with the help of his 31-year-old chauffeur Wang Guohua.

Initial investigations suggested a spontaneous ignition of the explosives had caused the blast.

The explosion at about 2:25 AM on Monday has totally flattened a two-storey building and six small houses nearby. The garage was on the ground floor of the two-storey building.

A five-storey hospital staff residential building was damaged seriously and unfit to live in. Buildings within one kilometer from the blast site were damaged to varying degrees.

The local government has provided accommodation for more than 140 people who were left homeless.

Those who were injured in the blast have been transferred to the Yuanping People's Hospital and Yuanping Railway Hospital for treatment.

Police have searched the company for dangerous explosives, chemicals, radioactive substances and carried out safety inspections on its fuel oil storage and fire control facilities.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2006)