Chinese city shuts down chemical plant after explosion that killed 78 people
- Authorities in Yancheng city act after country’s deadliest industrial accident in four years
- Decision follows action by Jiangsu provincial government to reduce number of chemical plants
The local government in Yancheng city in eastern China has decided to close down the ruined chemical plant where an explosion killed 78 people last month.
The March 21 blast at the site owned by the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Company was the deadliest industrial accident in China since the 2015 Tianjin port warehouse explosion that killed 173.
The decision follows a pledge by Jiangsu’s provincial government on Monday to slash the number of chemical production enterprises from 5,433 in 2017 to under 1,000 by 2022, as part of an ambitious plan to overhaul the local chemical manufacturing industry in the wake of the scandal.
Doing so will involve reducing the number of industrial estates that house chemical plants in the province from 50 to 20.
The authorities in Yancheng said the plant was being closed to improve the living conditions of local villagers, whose houses, along with neighbouring factories, were reduced to rubble by the force of the blast.
The municipal government made the decision to shut the plant following a meeting with the city’s party chief Dai Yuan on Thursday, according to the Yancheng Evening News.
Around 3,000 factory workers and local residents were evacuated from the area as a result of the blast, which caused serious environmental damage.
Three nearby rivers were contaminated with dichloroethane and dichloromethane, two toxic chemicals, and the air was polluted by dangerous levels of nitrogen oxide, according to testing by the local environmental bureau shortly after the explosion.
More recent test results, published by the provincial environmental bureau on Thursday, showed that levels of pollutants in four nearby waterways remained unsafe.
The city government said it would “rectify and improve” all citywide industrial chemical facilities in line with provincial standards, and carry out further “critical” clean-up and disposal work to contain pollution at the blast site and in the surrounding area.
All other small chemical plants with poor safety records and high levels of pollution will also be closed down and “chemical-free zones” established in various regions, local officials said.
Jiangsu province has in recent years been a magnet for industrial chemical factories, drawn to the coastal area’s flat land and convenient transport links.
It has massively benefited the local economy – industry revenues surpassed 2 trillion yuan (US$298 billion) in 2017 – but pollution of the waterways surrounding the Yangtze River from illegal sewage discharges has been a persistent problem.
“We must actively and steadily conduct improvement work, continue to treat the wounded, strive to do a good job in housing repairs, find new jobs for redundant factory workers, and maintain social order,” the Yancheng government said at the meeting.
The state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday that 187 blast victims remain in hospital.
Local police announced on Wednesday that they will press criminal charges against three unidentified Jiangsu Tianjiayi employees who allegedly had “major responsibility” for the incident.
