CHINA / Regional
47 killed in village explosion in Shanxi
(chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-07 10:12
A powerful explosion at a villager's home in Shanxi province killed 47
people and injured 20 others early Friday morning, Xinhua reported.
Earlier reports put the death toll at 30, but it rises as rescue
operation goes on.
The blast, said to be triggered off by explosives stored home, occurred
at about 6:30am at the home of a villager in Dongzhai Village, Dongzhai
Township, Ningwu county, north China's Shanxi province.
A county official said the villager's home caught fire first and then
many villagers rushed there to help extinguish the blaze.
Suddenly, an explosion occurred and 37 were killed in the explosion, and
ten more died in the process of medical treatment.
Preliminary investigation found that the explosion was caused by
illegally stored explosives in the fire, the official said. But it is
unknown how much explosive the villager illegalled stored at his
one-story house.
Rescue efforts are underway there and local officials have rushed to the
site to direct the rescue operation. More than 200 fire fighters, armed
police and public security police are busy clearing off the debris from
the explosion.
The cause of the explosion is under further investigation, Xinhua
reported.
Zhang Baoshun, secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the
Communist Party of China (CPC), demanded that all out efforts be made to
rescue the injured, and responsible persons be punished according to law.
Ningwu County, administered by Xinzhou City, takes a bus ride of more
than four hours to reach from Taiyuan, the provincial capital.
Party and government authorities of Ningwu and Xinzhou have rushed to the
spot to oversee the rescue work.
A rescue headquarters, with the leader of Ningwu County Government as the
commander-in-chief and consisting of seven specialized-task missions, has
been formed to carry out the rescue operation.
More than 200 fire fighters, armed police and public security police are
busy clearing off the debris from the explosion.
Ningwu was not the first time shattered by this fatal blast. In July 2
last year, a gas explosion at the Jiajiabao Coal Mine in Ningwu killed 36
people and injured 11. The mine's owner hid the bodies of 17 dead miners
after explosion to evade punishment.
With vast coal reserves, Shanxi Province, commonly known as "sea of coal,
is the biggest coal producer in China. However, legions of fatal
accidents occur in the province each year, and tragedies caused by
illegal storage of explosives used for mining.
A similar bloody explosive explosion occurred in Yuanping City of the
province in April this year. More than three tons of explosives illegally
hidden in the garage of the staff hospital affiliated to the Xuangang
Coal and Electricity Company detonated, killing 34 people.
In June this year, 10 people were killed when privately stored explosives
went off in a residential building in Fanshi County of Shanxi Province.
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