Gas leak caused deadly blast in China Olympic city

Beijing: A gas leak caused an explosion this week that killed 23 people in a northern Chinese city that will host part of the 2022 Winter Olympics, authorities said.

The blast in the early hours of Wednesday in the city of Zhangjiakou, some 200km northwest of Beijing, also injured 22 people.

“Initial investigations have shown that the explosion was caused by a gas leak from the Hebei Shenghua Chemical Co of ChemChina,” Zhangjiakou mayor Wu Weidong told reporters yesterday.

“Vinyl chloride spread to the public road outside the factory and was ignited by an open flame.”

Authorities previously reported that a truck carrying combustible chemicals had blown up while entering a factory, igniting other nearby vehicles, but the cause of the explosion had not been known until now.

Thirty-eight trucks and 12 cars were also damaged in the explosion, which eyewitnesses say created a huge fireball that engulfed vehicles on an entire stretch of road.

The explosion occurred in the city’s Qiaodong district some 45 minutes away from Chongli, which will host some of the mountain sport competitions during the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

Vinyl chloride spread to the public road outside the factory and was ignited by an open flame. Wu Weidong

— AP Wheels set in motion: The South Korean train preparing to travel across the border into North Korea on Dorasan station in Paju, South Korea.