Death toll at 62 in China chemical plant explosion
23 March, 2019
An explosion at a pesticide plant in eastern China has killed 62 people, state media said late on Friday, with 34 people critically injured and 28 missing, the latest casualties in a series of industrial accidents that has angered the public.
The blast occurred on Thursday at the Chenjiagang Industrial Park in the city of Yancheng, in Jiangsu Province, and the fire was finally brought under control at 3 a.m. on Friday, state television said.
Survivors were taken to 16 hospitals, with 640 people being treated for injuries, state media had said earlier.
The fire at a plant owned by the Tianjiayi Chemical Co. spread to neighboring factories. Children at a nearby kindergarten were also hurt, media said.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated, but the company — which produces more than 30 organic chemical compounds, some highly flammable — has been cited and fined for work safety violations in the past, the China Daily said.
Police, some wearing face masks, sealed off roads to the plant. The blast smashed windows in the village of Wangshang two kilometers away, and stunned villagers likened it to an earthquake.
“There was one loud bang followed by a long rumble,” said one, who gave his family name as Wang. “All the windows were smashed. I went to have a look. Near the site there was blood everywhere. People were crushed.”
The village stands beside a murky mildewed pond and was built in 2013 for people displaced by the construction of the industrial park where the blast took place. Dozens of Wangshang residents work at the park, and many have not come home.
Many buildings had broken windows and further structural damage, but villagers have not been evacuated. Unlike the police on site, none of them wore masks and had not been advised to.
President Xi Jinping, who is in Italy on a state visit, ordered all-out efforts to care for the injured and to “earnestly maintain social stability,” state television said.
Authorities must step up action to prevent such incidents and determine the cause of the blast as quickly as possible, Xi added.Speech
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