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One dead, 5 missing in chemical plant blasts
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-14 05:10
CHANGCHUN: One person was killed and five others were missing, with nearly
70 others wounded in a series of blasts that rocked a chemical plant in
Northeast China's Jilin Province yesterday afternoon.
There has been no report of deaths by press time, local authorities said.
The explosions took place at a workshop in No 101 Chemical Plant of Jilin
Petrochemical Company between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm in the city of Jilin, some 100
kilometres east of the provincial capital Changchun, according to rescuers.
Smoke billows out after a series of blasts hit
a chemical factory in Jilin City, Northeast China's Jilin Province Sunday
November 13, 2005. Six workers were missing and 70 others were injured,
with tens of thousands local residents evacuated. [Xinhua]
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The wounded were treated at two hospitals and by late last night, two of the
seriously injured underwent surgery.
More than 10,000 residents were evacuated as a precaution against more
explosions and severe pollution from the plant, which produces benzene.
The evacuees were residents of two communities, and students in the northern
section of Beihua University and Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology.
The blasts shattered windowpanes of buildings 100 to 200 metres away from the
plant, witnesses said.
The site of the accident has been cordoned off and police last night were
busy trying to evacuate more residents. The cause of the blasts is under
investigation.
State television showed billowing clouds of black smoke enveloping the city
of 1.25 million.
It took nearly 300 firefighters to bring the blaze under control, television
reports said. Rescuers say the fire is yet to be put out completely.
The local government asked evacuees to stay with relatives, and also
encouraged hotels to put them up. Many taxi drivers ferried the residents free
of charge.
A woman who answered the telephone at Jilin Petrochemical Company Hospital
said about 40 to 50 people were receiving treatment. She hung up when asked for
details.
At the Jilin Central Hospital, a doctor in the emergency department said
"several people with minor injuries" were brought in.
They appeared to have been outside the plant and were injured by glass
shards, said the doctor, who would not give his name.
An official with the Jilin municipal government, who also refused to identify
himself, said "leaders were directing rescue work at the blast site."
Wang Yunkun, chief of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Communist Party
of China, and Jilin Governor Wang Min reached the blast scene to oversee rescue
work.
(China Daily 11/14/2005 page1)
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