YANCHENG (China), March 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The death toll from a massive explosion that rocked a chemical plant in eastern China rose to 44, state media said Friday.
According to state-run People’s Daily, 90 others have been seriously
injured in Thursday’s blast, which was so powerful it knocked down nearby
factory buildings and shattered the windows of surrounding homes, while
apparently triggering a small 2.2-magnitude earthquake.
The Ministry of Emergency Management said 88 people had been rescued from the scene.
Injured people were streaming into the emergency ward at Xiangshui People’s Hospital – one of the largest hospitals in Xiangshui county, about 300km north of Shanghai – in the early hours of Friday.
The plant had been flattened and reduced to rubble, with only part of the workshop frame still standing.
A survivor who was standing by the roadside 1.5km from the factory said the impact blew him and two of his friends into the air and rolled them over several times before they fell to the ground.
“The air blast hit us and sent us up in the air,” the man, surnamed Lan, told Beijing News. “I can’t describe it. It’s horrifying to death.”
The car they were standing by was damaged severely, with a collapsed roof and broken windows, but they had no choice but to use it to drive to hospital.
“I couldn’t get through on 120 [ambulance hotline] at all,” Lan said. “We had no other means but to drive this broken car … One had an injured foot and the other had damage to his internal organs.”
Workers at the Henglida Chemical Factory, 3km from the blast, said its windows and doors were blown out. Its roof collapsed as they tried to escape, and causing head injuries.
The blast took place at about 14:50 local time on Thursday at the plant in Yancheng run by Tianjiayi Chemical.
The explosion followed a fire at the factory, which makes fertiliser.
Images on social media showed a fireball exploding at the site, billowing clouds enveloping the area, injured people and damage to buildings.
Provincial authorities said firefighters had to be brought in from across the province.
The fire was brought under control at around 0300 local time on Friday, state TV reported.
Industrial accidents ranging from factory fires to mining disasters are common in China, often due to poorly enforced safety standards.
More than 160 people died in 2015 after two massive explosions in the port of Tianjin in northern China.
The exact cause of the Tianjiayi Chemical explosion remains under investigation. The company, founded in 2007, has received six government penalties in the past over waste management and air pollution, according to the South China Morning Post. — NNN-AGENCIES
