36 killed in central China factory fire: State media
This photo taken shows a man walking past a billboard image of late communist leader Mao Zedong at a water heating factory in Nanjie village, in China's central Henan province on Sep 29, 2019. (File photo: AFP/Greg Baker)
BEIJING: 36 people were killed and two are missing after a fire at a plant in central China, state media said on Tuesday (Nov 22), citing local authorities.
The fire took place "at a plant in Anyang City, central China's Henan Province on Monday afternoon", news agency Xinhua reported without sharing further details.
State media said rescue services first received reports of a fire at 0822 GMT (4.22pm, Singapore time) at Kaixinda Trading.
Fire teams sent 63 vehicles to the scene, according to local media.
"After receiving the alarm, the municipal fire rescue detachment immediately dispatched forces to the scene," CCTV reported.
"Public security, emergency response, municipal administration, and power supply units rushed to the scene at the same time to carry out emergency handling and rescue work," it said, adding the fire had been extinguished by around 11pm local time.
In addition to the dead and missing, two are in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, CCTV added.
Psychological counsellors were on the scene for families of the victims, according to a government statement.
Authorities said "criminal suspects" had been taken into custody in connection with the fire, but did not provide further details.
Industrial accidents are common in China due to weak safety standards and corruption among officials tasked with enforcing them.
In June, one person was killed and another injured in an explosion at a chemical plant in Shanghai.
The fire at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical plant in the outlying Jinshan district sent thick clouds of smoke over a vast industrial zone as three fires blazed in separate locations, turning the sky black.
And last year, a gas blast killed 25 people and reduced several buildings to rubble in the central city of Shiyan.
In Mar 2019, an explosion at a chemical factory in Yancheng, located 260km from Shanghai, killed 78 people and devastated homes in a several-kilometre radius.
Four years prior, a giant explosion in northern Tianjin at a chemical warehouse killed 165 people, one of China's worst-ever industrial accidents.
