Five workers have been confirmed dead after a workshop in a
chemical factory in north China exploded, a spokeswoman with the
city government said on Saturday morning.
Eighteen people are still receiving treatment in local
hospitals, including 14 with "serious injuries," mostly because of
the blast shock wave, said Li Li, a spokeswoman for the Cangzhou
city government.
The blast occurred at 1:40 P.M. on Friday at a workshop in
Cangzhou Dahua TDI Co. Ltd. in Hebei Province, killing three people on the
spot, according to the provincial work safety bureau.
The blast also damaged most of the houses in the nearby Dazidian
village some 200 meters away, which is inhabited by about 4,000
people.
"Cracks measuring one to two centimeters wide are seen on the
walls of 80 percent of the houses in the village, and some of the
villagers were injured by flying window glasses, but no house has
collapsed," said Zhao Guoqing, an official in the village.
"I thought it was an earthquake when the house shook and dashed
out of it as quickly as possible. There was something like the
snowflakes in the air, which I learnt later was industrial foams
from the explosion," Zhao recalled.
Fearing possible toxic gas leak, more than 2,000 residents in
the village were initially evacuated but returned to their homes by
Friday evening.
The blast in the nitration workshop section led to a fire in the
toluene supply slot, according to a spokeswoman for the Cangzhou
city government.
The fire was put out around 4:30 P.M. on Friday.
The company is one of the major TDI producers in China. TDI, or
Toluene diisocyanate is primarily used as a chemical intermediate
in the production of polyurenthane products.
Investigations into the cause of the explosion are underway.
(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2007)
