Kunming Police spokesman Liu Zhen said yesterday that a man injured in a Christmas Eve explosion at a popular coffee bar in the Yunnan provincial capital has since died. The man, named as Li Yan from Xuanwei City in northeast Yunnan, apparently died about an hour after the incident.

Eyewitnesses saw the badly injured man being carried from Salvador's coffee bar shortly after a blast rocked the building around half past ten on the morning of 24th December.

The popular Salvador's coffee bar was badly damaged in an explosion that took place on the morning of December 24th. Kunming police said that a young Chinese man injured in the blast has since died.

American-owned Salvador's, on Wenlin Road in the city's university district, is one of Kunming's most popular bars and is often packed with tourists and students.

A resident living near the bar, which is in Wenlin Jie in the city's university district, said she saw the victim being carried out of the bar by rescuers.

"His legs were bleeding and seemed to be broken," said the woman, who declined to give her name.

The woman said the blast shook her house. "I came out to check what was going on and saw a young foreign man rush out of the bar. He leaned against a tree and his friends came to console him. Police and medical workers went in and in a few minutes the victim was carried out."

The Ministry of Public Security said that it has sent a team of experts from Beijing to investigate the incident.

Police investigating the Christmas Eve explosion at a popular Kunming coffee bar.

(China.org.cn plus agencies December 26, 2008)