The death toll from a giant explosion at a fireworks factory in central China has risen to 26, with 61 others injured, officials said on Tuesday.
The explosion occurred at around 4:43pm on Monday at the Liuyang Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Company in Liuyang, Hunan province, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
After the explosion, all fireworks manufacturers in Hunan’s provincial capital Changsha, which administers Liuyang, had been ordered to stop production ahead of safety inspections, CCTV said.
VIDEOS on social media on Monday showed continuous explosions accompanied by a large cloud of smoke rising into the air in a rural area surrounded by mountains.
CCTV drone footage taken a day later showed some of the debris burning where the buildings had stood, with rescue workers and excavators clearing the rubble.
Smoke continued to rise from the few buildings left standing, many with their roofs blown off.
Changsha Mayor Chen Bozhang told a news conference on Tuesday afternoon that five more people had died since earlier reports that 21 had been killed.
“We feel deeply saddened and filled with regret,” Chen said, adding that the search and rescue work was “basically finished.”
The central government had sent experts to lead rescue efforts, while more than 480 rescuers were rushed to the site, according to CCTV.
They had set up a 3-kilometer (1.9-mile) containment zone around the site and evacuated people nearby.
Police have arrested the company’s management while investigations into the cause of the accident continue, CCTV said.
President Xi Jinping had called for “all-out efforts” to treat the injured, search for the missing and hold those responsible accountable, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Liuyang is a major fireworks center, producing about 60 percent of the fireworks sold in China and 70 percent of those exported.
Industrial accidents, including in the fireworks industry, are common in China due to lax safety standards.
Last year, an explosion at another fireworks factory in Hunan killed nine people, and in 2023, three people were killed after explosions hit residential buildings in the northern city of Tianjin.
In February, separate explosions at fireworks shops in Hubei and Jiangsu provinces killed 12 and eight people, respectively.
