A total of 604 people injured in a chemical plant blast on Thursday in Jiangsu province were still receiving medical care in nearby medical facilities as of Sunday, including 19 in critical condition and 98 seriously wounded, according to the latest official information.
At the same time, rescuers were busy inspecting chemical plants damaged in the blast in Xiangshui county, Yancheng city, for possible toxic substance leaks.
The disaster occurred at Tianjiayi chemical plant in Xiangshui's Chenjiagang Chemical Park, with a fire quickly spreading to 16 neighboring enterprises, with the latest death toll at 64.
Since the blast, six rounds of search and rescue missions have been launched, and the search area has been expanded from 1.1 square kilometers to 2 sq km, Cao Lubao, mayor of Yancheng, said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon.
He said more than 4,500 medical workers and 116 ambulances have so far participated in rescue work. The National Health Commission sent 16 leading experts and Jiangsu sent 65 medical experts to treat the injured. "As of Sunday noon, victims were being treated in 16 hospitals, and 59 others have been discharged," he said.
Li Shaodong, deputy head of the Jiangsu Commission of Health, said specialized treatment plans had been made for every patient. "Psychologists have also been sent to help the recovery of the patients, their relatives and rescuers."
Workers have been sent to comfort the families of the deceased. The bodies will be treated according to ethnic and religious customs where applicable, said Li.
Sang Shulou, 36, has been discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment. The man, with signs of obvious trauma on his face, said that he was blessed to have survived the blast that happened just 100 meters away from him.
"I was driving a car passing the explosion site and suddenly felt the car was pushing away fiercely by the wave," he said.
According to the rescue and recovery team, more than 1,600 homes near the blast site have been repaired, with the remaining damaged homes expected to be repaired in a week. Owners of homes beyond repair will receive compensation and assistance in moving to new homes.
The State Council, China's Cabinet, has set up a special investigation group to look into the blast. The group said on Saturday the probe would be thorough and will show no leniency. It also severely criticized the local government and the company involved for their not learning lessons from previous environmental violations and failing to make effective rectifications.
Official records show that the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Company, where the explosion took place, had been punished several times before for taking advantage of safety loopholes and violating environmental protection regulations. Chenjiagang Chemical Park also experienced several similar safety accidents over the past few years.
On Saturday, the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Jiangsu Provincial Committee, the province's top leadership, held a meeting to decide on what measures should be taken.
Lou Qinjian, Party chief of Jiangsu, said at the meeting that the province should learn from the "bloody lesson" and practice "retrospection from the soul".
The incident is the result of poor implementation of the levels of oversight and responsibility for production safety as well as bureaucracy and formalism in supervision, according to a statement released after the meeting.
Jiangsu launched immediate safety inspections of chemical production, transportation and storage facilities after the incident. Industry operators will be temporarily suspended once any safety violation is spotted. If they fail to eliminate the hazards on time, they will be shut down on for longer periods. Those who are responsible for rectification work will be held accountable for any loss of life, the statement said.
Classes to Resume
Cao, the mayor of Yancheng, said on Sunday afternoon that repair work for damaged schools in the explosion was almost completed. Classes will resume on Monday.
Parents of nearby primary and kindergarten students received text message notification that schools will reopen on Monday morning. Teachers and government workers have cleaned classrooms and arranged the desks in preparation for the return of the students.
Gu Wei, who works about 350 kilometers away from his home near the exploded chemical plant, rushed home on hearing the news of the blast on Thursday. Out of safety concerns, he sent his 16-year-old son to a relative's home in a nearby township soon after he arrived home that night.
Gu said he would bring his son back home on Sunday evening to attend school, where windows were shattered by the explosion.
But the 35-year-old still had some concerns about the environment as his home in Sigang village is only about 4 km away from the chemical industry park, where the explosion occurred.
"It's a time bomb," he said.
Measures to Curb Pollution
Strong measures have been taken to avoid subsequent disasters, and to prevent toxin-filled water in the chemical park from flowing into the water supply.
Cao said that thorough inspections had been conducted at the chemical plants on-site to prevent further pollution scenarios.
He said these plants stored a large amount of chemicals and some sulfuric acid and nitric acid was leaked from the storage tanks after the explosion.
"Environmental experts and managers of the chemical park have been summoned to research water treatment and environmental protection issues," said Cao.
"Details of the categories, amounts and storage methods of chemicals are being carefully examined and they'll be handled with great caution to prevent secondary disasters," he said.
Li Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment, held a meeting on pollution control efforts after the blast. He demanded a comprehensive monitoring of the local environment, and all-out efforts to clean solid waste in the park and prevent polluted waters in the park from entering the Guanhe River, which runs into the Yellow Sea. The river's estuary is only some 10 km away from the park.
Rapid tests on water samples collected on Friday found waters of three rivers inside the chemical industry park were polluted by volatile organic compounds - chloroform, methylene chloride, dichloroethane and toluene. But no volatile organic compounds were detected in the waters of the three rivers outside the park.
The polluted portions of the three rivers have been cordoned off and so far no pollution was detected in waters outside of the park, according to the rescue and recovery team.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment also ordered special attention be paid to possible contaminated rainfall runoff and its impact in the aftermath of the blast.
Wei Zheng, a worker with the environmental monitoring station of Funing county, who has been sent to Xiangshui for assistance, said he collects water samples from inside the park and the nearby Guanhe River every three hours for analysis.
"We analyze the chemical remains in the water, including aniline and nitrobenzene. Environmental protection workers have established eight water monitoring stations inside and near the chemical park."
(Source: China Daily)