Hong Kong ? A fire at an unlicensed bar killed at least 26 people and injured 11 in a Chinese city near Hong Kong, news reports and a local official said Monday.

The fire broke out late Sunday in the bar in Zhongshan, a mainland city that abuts the former Portuguese colony of Macau west of Hong Kong, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

At least 26 people were killed, said an official who answered the phone at the propaganda office of Zhongshan’s Communist Party branch. The official refused to give his name.

“This small bar is an illegal business inside a restaurant,” the man said. “The bar owner has been detained for investigation.”

Police and fire officials in Zhongshan refused to release any information.

Witnesses quoted by Hong Kong Cable TV said there was an explosion before the bar fire.