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Gas leak caused deadly blast in China Olympic city
BEIJING, Nov 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A gas leak caused an explosion this week
that killed 23 people in a northern Chinese city that will host part of the
2022 Winter Olympics, authorities said Friday.
The blast in the small hours of Wednesday in the city of Zhangjiakou, some
200 kilometres (125 miles) northwest of Beijing, also injured 22 people.
“Initial investigations have shown that the explosion was caused by a gas
leak from the Hebei Shenghua Chemical Co. of ChemChina,” Zhangjiakou mayor Wu
Weidong told reporters.
“Vinyl chloride spread to the public road outside the factory and was
ignited by an open flame.”
Authorities previously reported that a truck carrying combustible
chemicals had blown up while entering a factory, igniting other nearby
vehicles, but the cause of the explosion had not been known until now.
Thirty-eight trucks and 12 cars were also damaged in the explosion, which
eyewitnesses say created a huge fireball that engulfed vehicles on an entire
stretch of road.
The explosion occurred in the city’s Qiaodong district some 45 minutes
away from Chongli, which will host some of the mountain sport competitions
during the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are
often poorly enforced.
In 2015, giant chemical blasts in a container storage facility killed at
least 165 people in the northern port city of Tianjin.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1432 hrs