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CHINA-ACCIDENT
China to close industrial park where deadly blast killed 78
BEIJING, April 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Chinese chemical industry park where
an explosion last month killed 78 people and left hundreds injured will be
closed, authorities have said.
The blast in Yancheng city, eastern Jiangsu province, was one of the worst
industrial accidents in the country in recent years, razing buildings nearby
and blowing out the windows of surrounding homes. Authorities evacuated
thousands of residents.
The decision to close the Xiangshui Chemical Industry Park was made
Thursday by the local government, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday.
Jiangsu province will also begin closing chemical plants, with the number
of producers to be cut roughly in half by 2020, news site The Paper reported.
Local authorities said Tuesday 187 people hurt in the blast remained in
hospital with two in critical condition.
Three employees from the firm Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical, whose facility
was involved in the blast, have been detained by police.
They bore “significant responsibility” for the accident, according to a
statement on the Yancheng government’s official Twitter-like Weibo account.
The company, with 195 employees, was established in 2007 and mainly
produced raw chemical materials including anisole, a highly flammable
compound.
It had a history of violating environmental regulations, according to
online records from Yancheng city’s environment and ecology bureau.
Deadly industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations
are often poorly enforced.
In November, a gas leak at a plant in the northern Chinese city of
Zhangjiakou — which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics — killed 24 people
and injured 21 others.
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.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0936 hrs