On Monday hazardous materials were removed by industrial safety
officials from a chemical plant in east China where 22 people died
in an explosion last week.?
Seventeen full drums of chlorine, one which was half full and
six empty containers were taken away from the blast site in Sheyang
County of Jiangsu Province to a nearby plant for
storage.
A chemical reactor vessel containing flammable material was also
treated. The clean-up should remove all dangers from the site, said
officials. Air and water tests around the plant show no signs of
contamination from the accident.
Officials said preliminary investigations suggested the cause of
the blast was either worker error or a problem inside the reactor
although there was no evidence to indicate what had actually
happened.
Around 8:45?AM on Friday the reactor exploded during a test
run at the Fuyuan Chemical Co. Ltd., a Sino-German joint venture,
in Linhai Township of Sheyang County. The plant, which had not
begun production, was to produce fluoro-benzene for industrial
use.
Seventy-one people were inside the plant when the blast
destroyed two workshops and killed 22 people and injured 28.
Twenty-one workers escaped uninjured. The incident forced the
temporary evacuation of more than 7,000 local residents who have
since returned to their homes.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2006)