Death toll soars in China blast
Xi Jinping calls for all-out rescue efforts after blast rocks chemical factory in Jiangsu
BEIJING:CHINESE President Xi Jinping on Friday directed all-out search and rescue missions to be carried out in the aftermath of a deadly industrial park explosion in eastern China that killed nearly 50 people and seriously injured 90.
The death toll has been steadily increasing since the explosion ripped apart a chemical plant in the Xiangshui area of Jiangsu province on Thursday afternoon.
Xi, who is in Italy, demanded full-fledged search and rescue efforts and also ordered a probe into the accident.
The explosion took place at 2.48pm on Thursday, shortly after a fire broke out in a chemical factory located inside the industrial complex.
640 PEOPLE RECEIVING MEDICAL TREATMENT
“A total of 640 people are receiving medical treatment in hospitals. Among them, 32 are still in critical condition and 58 others have sustained severe injuries,” news agency Xinhua quoted the accident rescue headquarters as saying.
“Workers were trapped after buildings were knocked down by the shock wave, which also shattered windows of nearby residential houses. Witnesses said many workers were seen running out of the factory covered in blood after the blast,” the Xinhua report said.
The explosion was so powerful that it reportedly triggered a tremor that measured 2.2 on the Richter Scale. The blast shattered windows of nearby schools.
A witness told the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper that he saw four people were wounded by shattered window parts and had to be rushed to a hospital.
Another witness with the surname Zhang said the explosion felt like an earthquake. He recounted that he was seated inside a car and the blast shook the vehicle.
President Xi called upon the restoration of normalcy as he stressed that the injured must be treated in quick time while relief work must be carried out properly.
“Environment monitoring and early warning should be strengthened to prevent environmental pollution as well as secondary disasters,” the Xinhua report said. “Videos from the scene shared on Sina Weibo showed massive plumes of black smoke, with an enormous fireball rising over the site of the blast.”
Thursday’s industrial accident is the worst to have rocked China since August 2015, when at least 163 people were killed and hundreds injured in deadly chemical plant explosions in the city of Tianjin, which is close to Beijing.
More than 17,000 houses across seven communities were either totally destroyed or badly damaged within the area of impact.