Sinopec declares ‘day of safety warning’ to commemorate Qingdao pipeline blast
The state-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation has declared the date of the Qingdao oil pipeline disaster a 'day of safety warning'
Sinopec, China’s biggest oil refiner, has declared November 22 – the date of the devastating oil pipeline explosion that killed at least 55 people and injured 145 in Qingdao – a ‘day of safety warning’.
More than a million staff from China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as Sinopec is also known, attended ceremonies of mourning early on Wednesday at the state-owned company’s headquarters and at its subsidiary offices to pay their condolences to the victims. Wednesday marked the traditional seventh day after death when Chinese people traditionally commemorate the passing of loved ones.
The ‘day of safety warning’ was established to “remember the departed and alert the descendants”, the company said on its Sina Weibo microblog.
Many internet users among the social media community on the mainland posted messages to share their condolences.
Two executives working for Sinopec Pipeline Storage and Transportation, the subsidiary responsible for their pipeline system, have been suspended from their roles as party secretary and general manager, the company announced on Wednesday night.
The company also said an examination had been underway since Wednesday to eliminate any potential dangers from its pipelines.
On Monday evening, police detained nine people – seven reportedly connected to Sinopec and two from the Qingdao economic development zone – involved with the explosion, according to Xinhua, but the identities of the detainees were not given.
Human error was to blame for the blast, according to a preliminary investigation by the State Council, .
Yang Dongliang, the director of the State Administration of Work Safety was cited by Xinhua as saying that the accident was a “very serious dereliction of duty”.
Video: Scenes from Qingdao pipeline leak explosion
