A plant in southeast China that produces a toxic chemical was rocked by its second explosion in 20 months yesterday, prompting a rescue operation by the nation’s army and reviving concerns about the safety of the country’s industrial projects.
The army deployed 118 soldiers and 25 specialized vehicles after the blast at the paraxylene-making Dragon Aromatics facility in Zhangzhou, the People’s Liberation Daily reported on Seina Weibo, a microblogging service.
Local residents have been transferred to four sites that are 18km away from the plant, the Beijing Times newspaper reported.
Photo: Reuters
Six people were hospitalized and another 13 were treated for minor injuries, according to Xinhua news agency.
A fire in the plant’s xylene facility because of an oil leak led to explosions at three nearby storage tanks, Xinhua said.
The local fire department said on its microblog that 122 firefighting vehicles and 610 people had been involved in the rescue operation.
China is seeking to reduce industrial accidents and the Chinese government last year ordered a nationwide overhaul of safety practices at factories handling explosive materials.
A blast killed at least 75 workers in Kunshan City in August last year, while Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) intensified efforts to improve workplace safety after explosions at an underground oil pipeline killed 62 people in the eastern port city of Qingdao in 2013.
“Two accidents in the same place in two years shows poor internal management,” Lin Boqiang (林伯強), a director of the Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, said by telephone.
The plant’s impact should be independently evaluated to ease public concern, he said.
The facility has had recurring technical problems since operations started in the middle of 2013, Amy Sun (孫燕松), an analyst with Shanghai-based commodities researcher ICIS-China, said by telephone from Guangzhou.
It supplies SECCO Petrochemical Co and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, she said.
“This kind of project, ones that could lead to potential fatal combustion, shouldn’t be constructed around residential districts,” Tian Miao, an analyst at North Square Blue Oak Ltd, a London-based researcher, said by telephone from Beijing.
While the project was initially planned for the southeast port city of Xiamen in 2007, it was halted after protests from residents, according to Beijing News.
The government moved it to a nearby city of Zhangzhou, which has a lower population, the newspaper reported yesterday.
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