Three held over Chinese chemical plant blast that killed 78
- Authorities say three employees from a local chemical company have been detained over last month’s explosion in Jiangsu province
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Police have detained three suspects linked to a chemical plant blast in China, which killed 78 people and left hundreds injured, local officials said on Wednesday.
The explosion last month in Yancheng city, in eastern Jiangsu province, was one of the worst industrial accidents the country has seen in recent years.
Three employees from Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical, whose facility was involved in the blast, had “significant responsibility” for the accident, according to a statement on the Yancheng government’s official Weibo account.
Officials said the suspects have been subjected to “criminal coercive measures” – a vague term which indicates detention, arrest or being put under house arrest temporarily until police complete their investigations – according to an explanation on the Chinese parliament’s website.
Yancheng police declined to offer details on the case when contacted by Agence France-Presse.
The blast razed an industrial estate and blew out the windows of surrounding homes.
The company, with 195 employees, was established in 2007 and mainly produces raw chemical materials including anisole, a highly flammable compound.
It has a history of violating environmental regulations, according to online records from Yancheng city’s environment and ecology bureau.
In 2015 and 2017, the firm was fined for breaking rules on solid and water waste management.
Deadly industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.
In November, a gas leak at a plant in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou – which will be a venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics – killed 24 people and injured 21 others.
In 2015, China saw one of its worst industrial accidents when giant chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin killed at least 165 people.
