Massive blast in Jiangsu kills at least six; severely hurts 30
At least six people were killed and an estimated 30 others were severely injured in an explosion at a chemical factory in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, on Thursday, according to local authorities.
The explosion occurred at 2:48 pm at a plant owned by the Tianjiayi chemical company, located in the Chenjiagang Chemical Park in Xiangshui county. The fire spread to factories nearby, the county government said, and continued to rage at press time.
The massive blast caused a house 550 meters from the site to collapse.
According to a report by CCTV, schools and kindergartens are located in the vicinity of the explosion. In a kindergarten about 1 kilometer from the site, some children were injured and were sent to the hospital.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, as of 7 pm, the Jiangsu firefighting brigade had mobilized 176 fire trucks with 928 firefighters to join the mission to suppress the blaze and rescue any remaining victims.
Huang Ming, the ministry’s Party secretary, and Wang Haoshui, its chief engineer, together with Zhou Tian, chief engineer of its fire and rescue department, led a team to the site to guide the rescue work along with Zhai Qing, vice-minister of ecology and environment.
The company, which was estab- lished in 2007, produces more than 30 organic chemical compounds, including anisole, m-Phenylenediamine and para-Phenylenediamine. Many of its products are flammable and toxic, according to the company’s website.
Wan Pingyu, professor of applied chemistry at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, said in an interview with CCTV that burning toxic chemicals might harm people and the environment. Residents nearby should be evacuated as soon as possible, Wan said.
According to the city’s environmental protection authority, the explosion had a negative influence on the air quality in the chemical park and its surrounding areas within a 500-meter radius, but strong winds have been helpful in dispersing heavy smoke.
No residents live in the chemical park, and people nearby have all been evacuated, it said, adding that there are no drinking water sources downstream of the explosion site.
Videos from the scene shared on Sina Weibo showed massive plumes of black smoke, with an enormous fireball rising over the site. Windows of nearby residential buildings were shattered by the initial blast.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
In 2018, the company was ordered by the State Administration of Work Safety, the predecessor of the Ministry of Emergency Management, to rectify 13 safety hazards, including a leaky valve on a storage tank.
Earlier, in 2016, the company was fined by local environmental protection authorities for violating regulations governing solid waste management and environmental impact assessments. It was punished again a year later for disobeying air pollution and solid waste management regulations, according to Qichacha, a databank that tracks business registration information in China.
The China Earthquake Networks Center said on social media that an earthquake of 2.2 magnitude struck Lianyungang’s Guannan county — about 30 kilometers from the explosion site — also at 2:48 pm. The depth of the quake was listed as 0. It’s not clear so far whether the two events are related.
Lianyungang suffered a devastating chemical plant explosion at Juxin Biotech Co in December 2017 triggered by equipment failure. It killed 10 people. The company involved was later fined 5 million yuan ($730,000). Its permit was revoked and its leaders were prosecuted.