China fireworks factory blast kills 21, injures 61 in major industrial accident

A giant explosion at a fireworks factory in central China killed at least 21 people and injured 61, state media said on Tuesday. The explosion occurred at around 4:43 pm on Monday at the Liuyang Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Company in Liuyang, Hunan province, state broadcaster CCTV said.  

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Videos on social media from Monday showed continuous explosions accompanied by a vast cloud of smoke rising high into the air in a rural area surrounded by mountains.

Drone footage from CCTV taken a day later showed a swathe of smouldering debris where buildings had stood, with rescue workers and excavators scouring the rubble.

Smoke continued to rise from some buildings left standing, many of them with their roofs blown off.  

The central government had sent experts to guide rescue efforts, while more than 480 rescuers had been urgently dispatched to the site for search-and-rescue operations, CCTV reported.

They had established a 3-kilometre (1.9-mile) control zone around the site and evacuated people nearby.

Police had apprehended the company's management while investigations into the cause of the accident continue, CCTV said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had called for "all-out efforts" to treat the injured and search for missing persons, and for those responsible to be held accountable, state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

Liuyang is a major fireworks hub, producing around 60 percent of the fireworks sold in China and 70 percent of those exported.

Industrial accidents, including in the fireworks industry, are common in China due to lax safety standards.

Last year, an explosion at another fireworks factory in Hunan killed nine people, and in 2023, three people were killed after blasts struck residential buildings in the northern city of Tianjin.

In February, separate explosions at fireworks shops in Hubei and Jiangsu provinces killed 12 and eight people.