Shanxi -- China
Fireworks blast kills 25

2005 -- Twenty-five people were killed and nine injured in a fireworks factory explosion in Xiangfen County, North China's Shanxi Province, on Tuesday afternoon.

Five were critically wounded and four are in a relatively stable condition, according to local hospitals.

"The clean-up work is almost done, and there have been no new casualties," said Niu Jianhua, an official with the Shanxi Provincial Administration for Work Safety. He led the rescue work.

Niu said all victims were factory workers, mostly female workers from the county and neighbouring counties.

All the injured were taken to Xiangfen County People's Hospital before five were transferred to Lingang People's Hospital in Linfen City for better burns treatment. The county of Xiangfen is under the jurisdiction of Linfen.

"One male and four female workers are in a critical condition," said Doctor Jia, at Lingang People's Hospital.

The fireworks factory, in Jing'an village, employs 210 staff and was operated inside a cave.

Dozens of female workers were busy making fireworks in cave-workshops in time for the peak season -- Spring Festival -- which begins on February 9, when a huge blast was heard, said Li Jie, an official with the Linfen Administration for Work Safety.

A chain of blasts was sparked from one workshop to another, setting light to finished fireworks and inflammable raw materials kept in store in other caves, he said.

The main entrance of the factory was totally destroyed.

The blast is being blamed on work safety violations, Li said, although the factory does have a complete set of legitimate documents all required by different local authorities to permit production. It also holds certificates that say its storage and transport methods are safe, he said.

 

 

Twenty-five Killed in Shanxi Fireworks Blast

-- An explosion at a fireworks factory in Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province, on Tuesday afternoon killed at least 25 people and injured nine, according to Xinhua News Agency.

As of 8:00 AM Wednesday morning, the fire caused by the blast had been extinguished and recovery teams were sifting through the site.

The majority of the dead were women workers from neighboring rural areas. The injured were sent to a local hospital for treatment.

The factory's workshops as well as finished-product and explosives storage areas were all located in caves built along the edge of the valley.

A relative of one injured worker told the Shanxi Evening News that a truck transporting fireworks exploded first, setting off a chain reaction. Officials are still investigating the cause of the blast.

Local police are searching for the factory owner, who apparently fled after the accident.

 

Shanxi province
25 killed in fireworks workshop

-- At least 25 workers, mostly women, were confirmed dead when an explosion ripped through a fireworks factory in north China's Shanxi province, local officials said today.

The death toll in the blast that took place yesterday at Xiangliu Firecracker Factory in Xiangfen County has risen to 25 this morning.

The exact number of workers injured in the accident is not known.

Most victims were local women who worked as temporary workers at the factory, Xinhua news agency quoted local officials as saying.

Rescue workers are busy clearing debris at the site of the explosion, it said, adding that the cause of the accident is under investigation.

The police are looking for the owner of the factory who has fled after the blast.

 

Shanxi province -- China
25 Killed in China Fireworks Factory Blast

-- Twenty-five people were killed and nine injured at an explosion Tuesday at a fireworks factory in northern China, officials said.

Most of the victims in the blast at the Xiangliu firecracker factory in Shanxi province were young women, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation, Xinhua said, and authorities were looking for the owner of the factory, who had fled.

Also Tuesday, an explosion in Zhandian, a village in eastern Anhui province, killed a man who was making firecrackers at home, Xinhua said.

China's fireworks industry suffers hundreds of deaths every year in fires and explosions as thousands of people, often in poor rural areas, do much of the work by hand in illegal or poorly equipped premises.

 

-- An explosion at a fireworks factory in northern China killed 25 people and injured another nine, an official and state media said on Wednesday.

"I heard that 25 people have died and I am now on my way to the scene," said a communist party committee official surnamed Duan in Shanxi province, where the blast occurred on Tuesday.

The victims at the Xiangliu Firecracker Factory in Xiangfen country were mostly young women workers, Xinhua news agency reported.

Police were searching for the plant owner and trying to determine the cause of the accident, Xinhua said.

China's firecracker industry is notorious for its fatal accidents. According to official figures, 192 people died in explosions at fireworks plants in the first nine months last year.

Fireworks factory accidents are expected to increase as factories step up production in the run up to the Chinese New Year holidays starting February 9.

The overall workplace safety situation is dismal in China, with 11,620 people dying on the job between January and September last year.