Blast at Chinese chemical plant kills 44, injures 640

[webfact]

Blast at Chinese chemical plant kills 44, injures 640

 

Smoke billows from fire following an explosion at the pesticide plant owned by Tianjiayi Chemical, in Xiangshui county, Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - An explosion at a pesticide plant in eastern China's Jiangsu province has killed 44 people and injured more than 600, state media said on Friday, the latest casualties in a series of industrial accidents that has angered the public.

 

The blast occurred on Thursday at the Chenjiagang Industrial Park in the city of Yancheng, and the fire was finally brought under control at 3.00 a.m. on Friday (1900 GMT), state television said.

 

Survivors were taken to 16 hospitals with 640 people being treated for injuries. Thirty-two of them were critically injured, it said.

 

The fire at a plant owned by the Tianjiayi Chemical Company spread to neighbouring factories. Children at a kindergarten in the vicinity were also injured in the blast, media reported.

 

The cause of the blast was under investigation, but the company - which produces more than 30 organic chemical compounds, some of which are highly flammable - has been cited and fined for work safety violations in the past, the China Daily said.

 

The Jiangsu environmental protection bureau said in a statement late Thursday that the environmental monitoring station in the area had found no abnormal concentrations of toluene, xylene or benzene.

 

Concentrations of acetone and chloroform outside the perimeter of the explosion zone were also within normal limits, it added.

 

Jiangsu will launch inspections on chemical producers and warehouses, according to an emergency notice published by official media on Friday.

 

The notice, published on the news website of Jiangsu province's Communist Party, said the government would shut down any chemical firms found not complying with regulations on dangerous chemicals.

 

Public anger over safety standards has grown in China over industrial accidents ranging from mining disasters to factory fires that have marred three decades of swift economic growth.

 

In 2015, 165 people were killed in a series of explosions at a chemical warehouse in the northern city of Tianjin.

 

The explosions at Tianjin, one of the world's busiest ports and not far from the capital, Beijing, were big enough to be seen by satellites and register on earthquake sensors.

 

Despite repeated pledges by the government to tighten safety, chemical plants in particular have been plagued by disasters.

 

In November, a series of blasts during the delivery of a flammable gas at a chemical manufacturer killed 23 people.

 

(Reporting by David Stanway; Additional reporting by Dominique Patton, Ben Blanchard and Lusha Zhang in BEIJING; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-22

[Johnnyngai]

Third world countries try to cut cost whenever possible. 

I visited a metal stamping factory in Southern China 13 years ago. 
The factory has more than a hundred workers,

but none of their machines has any safety guards. 

The spacing between machines were more than 10 feet,

but if one were to slip and fall he could get his arm grind off by the rotating pulleys.

Females with long flowing hair could also get caught by accident.  

  

[oldrunner]

This is the PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA were talking about here folks, similar to Thailand safety regulations.

[jethro69]

11 minutes ago, oldrunner said:

This is the PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA were talking about here folks, similar to Thailand safety regulations.

And who are you to give so detailed comments.

So you must have worked in China for quite a while, and also have a work permit for Thailand to gain that expertise?

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed.