KUNSHAN, China (Reuters) – China suffered its worst industrial accident in a year yesterday when an explosion killed at least 69 people and injured more than 120 at a factory that makes wheels for US carmakers, including General Motors.
The blast in the wealthy eastern province of Jiangsu occurred around 7.30 am in Kunshan city, about an hour’s drive from Shanghai, after an explosion ripped through a workshop that polishes wheel hubs.
A preliminary investigation suggested the blast at Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Co Ltd was triggered when a flame was lit in a dust-filled room, the local government said at a news conference, describing the incident as a serious safety breach.
State news agency Xinhua said two company representatives had been taken into police custody and that the death toll had risen to 69 by late yesterday.
Xinhua quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as demanding a full inquiry into the blast and saying those found responsible must be punished.
Survivors with charred skin were seen being wheeled into ambulances as residents recalled hearing the explosion from two kilometres away. At the site of the blast, television images showed wrecked walls and heavy machinery that had been hurled through windows.
“We heard a really loud blast at about 7 am this morning so we rushed out of our dormitories,” said Zhou Xu, a 26-year-old working at a plant across the site.
“First the ambulance came, then as the news surfaced in the media, many families – especially the wives – rushed to the site to see if their husbands were okay.”
A security guard from an adjacent factory, who declined to be named, said the impact from the explosion was so great that it shattered the windows of his guard house, located about 500 metres away from the site of the blast.
Images online and on state television showed large plumes of black smoke billowing from a white low-rise building. Many of the injured, who appeared badly burnt in scorched clothing, were shown lying on wooden pallets, waiting to be stretchered on to trucks, public buses and ambulances.
Four emergency blood-donation centres were set up in the city to assist casualties, some of whom will be taken to Shanghai and other nearby cities for treatment later yesterday, state television said.
