Residents from southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung were allowed to return into their homes on Friday following a powerful gas explosions that killed 26 people and injured 267 others overnight.

Taiwanese officials have declared the city and nearby areas safe from further explosions and started cleaning up the area pictured with roads ripped apart, overturned vehicles, and scattered debris from damaged properties.

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The wide fires in the Chianjen district of Kaohshiung have also been put out by fire officials, Associated Press reported.

At least 12,000 people from the affected areas have returned home on Friday afternoon after they voluntarily evacuated in fear of another deadly blasts. The Thursday's incident is the worst industrial city's disaster in the country's recent history.

City spokesman Ting Yun-kung said the government will conduct its partial investigation to assess the origin of the incident, which was believed came from the city's gas pipeline.

"We haven't started a formal investigation yet, just a partial one," Ting said. "A full one will take a few days." 

The city's underground gas line from the government-owned CPC Corp. reportedly leaked propene before midnight Friday, a petrochemical material used for plastic polypropylene, but officials have yet to find the exact location of the leakage.

The National Fire Agency has put the death toll at 26 following the death of another victim earlier injured from the blasts. Among the fatalities were four firefighters who were first on the scene after reports of "gas-like" odor in Kaohshiung, it added.

In a statement, the fire agency said its local department received calls late Thursday about the gas leaks and it was immediately followed by heavy explosions that affected at least three square kilometers of the area.

Videos reports on Friday showed severely damaged streets with wide gap caused by the explosion that swallowed vehicles parked in the road. Some videos showed bodies of the victims strewn across the streets pooled on their own blood.

The latest incident happened exactly a week after a TransAsia Airways plane crashed while trying to land at a Taiwanese airport in Penghu Island, killing 48 people on board. 

TagsTaiwan, gas explosions