An explosion in a hotel room has left two people dead and two injured in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local police said on Friday.

The blast occurred at about 6:40 a.m. on Thursday in Room 406 on the top floor of the Jindi Hotel in Jinggu County of Pu'er City, killing a man and a woman who checked in the day before.

The explosion burst into the neighboring room and the room below, injuring two other guests, including a 21-year-old woman who was severely injured.

She was taken to the Jinggu hospital, and later transferred to a military hospital in the provincial capital of Kunming to receive specialist care.

Witnesses said the powerful explosion blew windows and bricks of the two rooms overlooking the street. The shock wave even smashed windows in the Jindeng Hotel across the street.

Local police have sealed off the hotel and the cause of the blast is being investigated.

(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2007)