\nBeijing, Nov 22 (AFP\/APP):Thirty-eight people were killed and two were injured in a fire at a factory in central China, state media said Tuesday, with authorities blaming workers for illegal welding.<\/p>\n
The fire broke out at a plant in Anyang City in Henan Province on Monday afternoon, news agency Xinhua reported.<\/p>\n
Rescue services first received reports of a fire at 4:22 pm (0822 GMT) at Anyang Kaixinda Trading Co., Ltd, according to state media.<\/p>\n
“After receiving the alarm, the municipal fire rescue detachment immediately dispatched forces to the scene,” state broadcaster CCTV said.<\/p>\n
It added that the fire was extinguished by around 11 pm local time.<\/p>\n
Footage from the scene shared by CCTV showed thick plumes of black smoke from the fire, with at least two trucks in position to battle the flames.<\/p>\n
In addition to the dead, two were sent to hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, the state-run People’s Daily said.<\/p>\n
Authorities said “criminal suspects” had been taken into custody in connection with the fire.<\/p>\n
CCTV then reported, citing local officials, that a preliminary investigation had found the fire was caused by “electric welding in which workers violated safety measures.”<\/p>\n
According to data provider Tianyancha, Anyang Kaixinda Trading Co. is a wholesale trader dealing in machinery, building materials, non-hazardous chemicals, clothing and fire-fighting equipment. <\/p>\n
– Weak safety standards –<\/p>\n
Industrial accidents are common in China due to weak safety standards and corruption among officials tasked with enforcing them.<\/p>\n
News of the Anyang City fire followed reports of an explosion at a chemical factory in nearby Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, on Monday.<\/p>\n
Videos posted on social media showed a fire at the industrial site spewing dense grey smoke into the sky.<\/p>\n
Other images showed nearby buildings strewn with shards of glass and frightened locals fleeing the blast.<\/p>\n
“Personnel were dispatched to the scene, the fire was extinguished, and the human toll is not yet known,” Dahebao — an official daily based out of neighbouring Henan — reported on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, citing authorities.<\/p>\n
In June, one person was killed and another injured in an explosion at a chemical plant in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
The fire at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. plant in the outlying Jinshan district sent thick clouds of smoke over a vast industrial zone as three fires blazed in separate locations, turning the sky black.<\/p>\n
And last year, a gas blast killed 25 people and reduced several buildings to rubble in the central city of Shiyan.<\/p>\n
In 2015, a giant explosion in northern Tianjin at a chemical warehouse killed 165 people, in one of China’s worst-ever industrial accidents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing, Nov 22 (AFP\/APP):Thirty-eight people were killed and two were injured in a fire at a factory in central China, state media said Tuesday, with authorities blaming workers for illegal welding. The fire broke out at a plant in Anyang City in Henan Province on […]<\/p>\n
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