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A fire broke out in a factory in Henan, China on Monday (November 21) afternoon, killing 38 people and injuring 2 others. The authorities said the fire was caused by employees operating electric welding illegally.
Agence France-Presse quoted China’s Xinhua News Agency as reporting that a fire broke out at a factory in Anyang, Henan Province on Monday afternoon, but did not report further details. CCTV TV reported that the fire department received an alert of a fire at Kaixinda Trading Company in Anyang at 4:22 p.m. , Immediately sent personnel to the scene, “the public security, emergency department, municipal government and power supply unit also rushed to the scene at the same time to carry out search and rescue.” The fire was extinguished by 11pm that night.
State media reported pictures showing thick black smoke enveloping the factory building from the fire, with at least two fire trucks on the scene to put out the fire. Another video showed the charred exterior of the building after the fire was extinguished.
The report initially counted 36 people dead, two missing and two others injured and sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect who started the fire is in police custody, authorities said. CCTV reported that a preliminary report determined that the accident was caused by an employee of the company doing electric welding illegally. According to information from the commercial information query platform “Tianyancha”, Kaixinda Trading Co., Ltd. is a wholesaler involved in machinery, building materials, non-hazardous chemicals, clothing and fire-fighting equipment.
An explosion occurred in a chemical factory in Taiyuan, Shanxi on the same day
Agence France-Presse reported that industrial accidents occur frequently in China, often due to non-compliance with safety regulations. Also on Monday, an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Official reports gave no casualties but reported damage to nearby buildings. According to the video posted on the Internet, thick smoke billowed from the factory where the explosion occurred, forming a huge mushroom cloud in the sky. The roofs of some residents were shaken, and the ground was covered with shattered glass fragments and fallen window frames. People ran out of their homes in fright.
The state-run Dahe Daily in Shanxi province quoted local officials as saying that rescuers had been dispatched to the scene and the fire had been extinguished, but “casualties have not yet been reported”. Local residents told the media that the explosion occurred around 5:25 pm and some people were injured by shards of glass. According to reports, the Jiangyang chemical plant that had the accident that day also had an explosion in September 2021.
In March 2019, an explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng, 260 kilometers north of Shanghai, killed 78 people and damaged houses several kilometers away. The most serious industrial accident in recent years was the major explosion in Tianjin Port in 2015. A huge explosion occurred in a dangerous goods warehouse in the port, killing at least 165 people and injuring nearly 800.