Senior Chinese officials took charge of rescue and relief efforts after a fireworks factory explosion killed 26 and injured 61, flattening buildings and burying people in mounds of debris, as they pledged to punish those responsible.
Smoke still billowed from the plant two days after Monday’s powerful explosion in the city of Liuyang in the southern province of Hunan known as China’s fireworks capital.
Rubble surrounded collapsed buildings at the site nestled amid lush, green mountains, with shattered glass littering nearby streets, while residents of damaged buildings began repairs on their homes in the city of about 1.5 million.
Operations at all fireworks plants in the city have been suspended to carry out safety inspections, authorities said.
Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing led senior officials on Tuesday in guiding emergency rescue and response efforts, the ruling Communist Party’s China Daily newspaper said.
The state council will set up an investigation team to look into the case, the paper added yesterday.
Monday afternoon’s blast was at the Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Co, the official Xinhua news agency and state broadcaster CCTV said. It even shattered doors and windows in neighbouring villages.
More than 1,500 firefighters, rescuers, medics and police fanned out in the search for survivors, employing 18 unmanned aerial drones and robots to comb the area for hazards and defuse them.
Authorities evacuated surrounding areas because of the risk from highly combustible black powder stored in two warehouses in the complex, Xinhua said. — Reuters
