Qingdao explosions that killed 55 an eerie reminder of deadly blast 24 years ago
The deadly oil pipeline explosion on Friday in the eastern port city of Qingdao came as a bitter reminder of another dreadful tragedy in 1989, when successive explosions of five oil tanks killed 19 people and injured another 78.
The series of explosions 24 years ago took place in Huangdao district when one of five oil tanks was hit by lightning. Within hours, a fire spread and led to explosions of the other four tanks, all of which were located within 1.5 square kilometres and were being used to store more than 40,000 tonnes of crude oil in total, according to a report carried by Caixin Magazine‘s website.
The area soon turned into a blazing inferno as the fire engulfed nearby roads and houses. Firefighters trying to stop the fire from spreading after the first explosion were not able to evacuate in time before the other tanks exploded. The fire lasted for more than four days and nights before it was put out, and 19 firefighters were killed trying to tackle the blaze.
The report in Caixin Magazine blamed poor infrastructure quality, the overcrowded layout of flammable facilities and inadequate emergency responses for the 1989 tragedy that took place in the industrial district of Huangdao, the same area as last week’s oil pipeline explosion, which killed at least 52 people and injured more than 130, with another 11 missing.
On Monday, China's top official in charge of industrial safety blamed last Friday's deadly explosions in Huangdao on "human error," indicating that the central government may severely punish Sinopec, the state-owned oil giant who operates the pipeline, as well as local officials at the end of the investigation.
“This is a very serious accident caused by human error,” Xinhua quoted Yang Dongliang, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, as saying at an investigation meeting he chaired in Qingdao on Monday morning.
The explosions on November 22 has killed 55 people so far, with 136 injured and nine people still missing, state media said. In another sign of how seriously Beijing is treating the accident, President Xi Jinping flew to Qingdao on Sunday and visited those injured in the explosions in a local hospital.