Four people were killed in a chemical works blast in Shanxi,
three in the collapse of a workshop in Zhejiang,
and at least five injured in serial fireworks explosions in Inner
Mongolia in the past two days.
The explosion that killed four people in the northern province
of Shanxi took place at 2:50 PM on Sunday afternoon, local police
said, in a Jiangyang Chemical (Group) Co warehouse. One person was
seriously wounded.
The company is a military firm, and a similar accident occurred
there on June 21, injuring 336 people, 174 of whom were
hospitalized. Eight counties, 27 villages and?six schools were
affected by the blast that time.
Production has been suspended and workers are clearing the site.
Investigations into the cause are underway, said police, but
initial analysis has found it to have been an accident during the
production process.
The affected warehouse was used to store dynamite, and one of
the dead was a customer from Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi
Province. The other?three worked at the plant.
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Earlier the same day, a three-story steel-structure workshop
collapsed in Yueqing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, killing
three workers and injuring eight others. The manager, who was
buried in the rubble, is still missing.
A local government source said the accident happened around 9:00
AM when the Yueqing Liantong Plugboard Co Ltd workshop, located in
the suburban Xiangjinyang Industrial Zone, caved in during the
construction process.
Three workers were killed on the spot and the eight wounded were
still in hospital as of Monday, one still in a critical
condition.
This workshop's boss insisted on adding second and third floors,
despite this being illegal, and the local government had asked him
to stop building, according to China Radio International.
The municipal government set up a team to deal with the
aftermath and an investigation into the cause of the collapse is
underway.
Yesterday, a series of fireworks explosions left at least five
people injured in Chaohao Village of Hohhot in north China's Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, witnesses said that afternoon. It is
still unclear whether the explosions caused any deaths.
The first explosion occurred at around 7:40 AM and they could
still be heard at 3 PM, with thick smoke hanging over the
village.
Local police have closed off the village, according to
witnesses, and villagers have been evacuated. Five or six people
have been hospitalized.
Chaohao has over 1,000 households, with over 80 percent making
fireworks, villagers said.
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(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2005)