Five workers were killed and three injured in a factory explosion caused by a gas leak in eastern China, local authorities said yesterday.
The blast happened on Friday night at a perlite workshop in Shandong Province, city officials said in a statement.
All five victims were night shift workers in the Qingzhou-based factory during the explosion.
Three outside the workshop also suffered mild injuries and are still in the hospital under observation.
“The cause of the accident was initially found to be a liquefied natural gas leak, and the specific cause is under further investigation,” the statement said.
A Yongli Perlite Plant official has also been detained by local authorities, it added.
Perlite is a form of volcanic glass that is mined and processed, often used in insulation and plastics production, as well as horticulture.
The incident came barely a week after one of China’s worst recent industrial accidents, in which an explosion at a chemical plant killed 78 people and injured hundreds.
The powerful explosion in the eastern city of Yancheng toppled several buildings in the industrial park, blew out windows of nearby homes and even dented metal garage doors.
It prompted the Chinese State Council, the country’s Cabinet, to order a nationwide inspection of chemical firms. Deadly industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.
In November last year, a gas leak at a plant in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou, which is to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, killed 24 people and injured 21 others.
Leaked chloroethylene came in contact with a fire source causing the explosion, authorities said in a February report showing that the Chinese chemical firm responsible for the accident had concealed information and misled investigators.
In December last year, three students were killed in a blast at a Beijing university laboratory during a research experiment on wastewater treatment. In July last year, a blast at a chemical plant in southwest Sichuan Province left 19 dead and 12 injured. It was later revealed that the company had undertaken illegal construction that did not pass safety checks.
In 2015, China saw one of its worst industrial accidents when giant chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin killed at least 165 people. The explosions caused more than US$1 billion in damage and sparked widespread anger at a perceived lack of transparency over the accident’s causes and its environmental impact.
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