Gas blast toll reaches 10 as Beijing issues disaster response plan

The death toll from a gas pipeline blast in Sichuan province has risen to 10, with 50 people injured, as Beijing last night issued a general plan on how to deal with manmade disasters, official media reported.

The plan which covers nine types of disasters including production safety, railway transportation and civil aviation, aims to raise efficiency in emergency rescue and minimise losses that could threaten social stability.

The Sichuan blast is the latest in a spate of severe accidents, ranging from explosions to coal mine disasters, to have hit the mainland in recent months.

The blast occurred at noon on Friday, when a China National Petroleum Corporation gas station's outgoing pipeline in Renshou county exploded, leaving a pit a dozen metres long and two to three metres deep. The blast was followed by another explosion in one of the incoming pipelines several minutes later, the Beijing News reported. Eight of the workers were killed instantly.

A source in the county's disaster-handling team told the South China Morning Post the injured were mostly farmers as the gas station was located in the outskirts of the county.

An investigation into the incident is now under way.