A huge explosion rocked a gas plant in central China on Friday, causing many injuries and shattering windows and doors of buildings in a three-kilometre (1.9-mile) radius, state media said.<\/p>\n
The number of casualties was not immedia"},"modified":"2019-07-22T07:13:40","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T07:13:40","slug":"huge-blast-rocks-china-gas-plant-many-injured-state-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/22\/huge-blast-rocks-china-gas-plant-many-injured-state-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge blast rocks China gas plant, ‘many injured’: state media |"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A huge explosion rocked a gas plant in central China on Friday, causing many injuries and shattering windows and doors of buildings in a three-kilometre (1.9-mile) radius, state media said.<\/p>\n
The number of casualties was not immediately known following the blast in Henan province, but official news agency Xinhua said \u201cmany people\u201d were injured at the site of the explosion.<\/p>\n
Two people are so far unaccounted for after the blast, which happened at 5:50 pm local time (0950 GMT), and some of the injured have been hospitalised.<\/p>\n
Xinhua said the blast occurred in the air separation unit of the Henan Coal Gas Group factory and not in the gas tank areas, citing a source in the Yima city government. All production at the plant has been stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany windows and doors within a three-kilometre radius were shattered, and some interior doors were also blown out by the blast,\u201d state broadcaster CCTV said on its Twitter-like Weibo social media account.<\/p>\n
Local media showed amateur videos of a massive column of black smoke billowing from the factory and debris littering the roads.<\/p>\n
Other images showed the doors and windows of homes blown out and shuttered shops with dented metal fronts.<\/p>\n
A bloodied man was seen being helped out of a van in a video posted on social media.<\/p>\n
AFP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage.<\/p>\n
Industrial accidents <\/strong> In March, an explosion at a chemical plant in eastern Jiangsu province killed 78 people and injured hundreds.<\/p>\n The powerful explosion in the eastern city of Yancheng toppled several buildings in the industrial park, blew out windows of nearby homes and even dented metal garage doors. <\/p>\n Authorities detained two dozen people in connection with the March 21 blast, which prompted the government to order a nationwide inspection of chemical firms.<\/p>\n A week after that explosion, seven died after an explosion at an electronics component manufacturer in the same province.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Leaked chloroethylene came in contact with a fire source causing the explosion, authorities said in a February report, which also claimed the Chinese chemical firm responsible for the accident had concealed information and misled investigators.<\/p>\n In 2015, China suffered one of its worst industrial accidents when giant chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin killed at least 165 people.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Deadly industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.<\/p>\n