A blast happened on July 14 in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving 12 people including nine Chinese dead, the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan confirmed.

At around 7:00 a.m. local time, the shuttle vehicles of the Dasu Hydropower Project for which a Chinese company was contracted to build, were hit by a blast when they were heading towards the construction site, the embassy said in a statement, adding that the Pakistani side is investigating into the incident.

After the blast, the embassy immediately activated the emergency response plan, and contacted the Pakistani military and Pakistani government departments including the foreign ministry and interior ministry, asking the Pakistani side to conduct rescue and treatment work at all costs, enhance the security guarantee for the Chinese institutions, projects and personnel in Pakistan, and find out the truth of the incident as soon as possible, according to the statement.

The Pakistani military organized and started the rescue work immediately after the blast and dispatched helicopters to transfer the injured, the statement added.