Bomb mailer ‘did not mean them to explode’ Toll rises in worst industrial accident in years

A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to sending pipe bombs to CNN and prominent critics of President Donald Trump in a wave of attacks that harmed no-one but spread fear across the US leading up to last year’s midterm elections.

Cesar Sayoc, 57, shackled at the ankles, briefly sobbed as he entered the plea before a New York federal judge.

‘‘I’m extremely sorry,’’ he said, speaking so softly that sometimes he was told to repeat himself. Though he said he never meant for the devices to explode, he conceded he knew they could.

He could get life in prison at sentencing on September 12 on 65 counts, including 16 counts of using a weapon of mass destruction and mailing explosives with intent to kill. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a charge that carried a mandatory life sentence. One charge carries a mandatory 10-year prison term that must be served in addition to his sentence on 64 other counts.

Sayoc sent 16 rudimentary bombs – none of which detonated – to targets including Hillary Clinton, former vicepresident Joe Biden, several members of Congress, former president Barack Obama and actor Robert De Niro. The death toll in an explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China has risen to 44, with another 90 people seriously injured, the local government reported yesterday.

Thursday’s blast at the Tianjiayi Chemical plant in the city of Yancheng is China’s worst industrial accident in years. Nearly 1000 area residents have been moved to safety as of yesterday as a precaution against leaks and additional explosions, the city government said in a statement posted to its official microblog.

Windows in buildings as far as 6km away were blown out by the force of the blast.

The city government statement said 3500 medical workers at 16 hospitals had been mobilised to treat the injured, dozens of whom remain in critical condition.

The cause of the blast remained under investigation.

China experiences frequent industrial accidents despite orders from the central government to improve safety at factories, power plants and mines.

Among the worst accidents was a massive 2015 explosion at a chemical warehouse in the port city of Tianjin that killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers.

In November, at least 22 people were killed and scores of vehicles destroyed in an explosion outside a chemical plant in the northeastern city of Zhangjiakou, which will host competitions in the 2022 Winter Olympics.