Fires and explosions

Citation

(2008), "Fires and explosions", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2008.07317aac.006

Fires and explosions

1.1 30 April 2006Coal mine, Shanxi Province, China

A coal mine blast in northwestern China killed 27 people, the government said today, as rescuers searched for five remaining workers still missing in the mine’s underground shafts. A total of 39 miners were working underground when the gas blast occurred yesterday around 1620, local time, at the Wayaobao Coal Mine in Shaanxi province, China’s State Administration of Coal Mine Safety said on its Web site. Seven people managed to escape, and 27 workers were confirmed dead, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Rescuers were still searching for five people still missing, it said. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the gas blast. Xinhua said investigations were underway. Police have placed the owner and management of the Wayaobao mine under watch, sealed the mine’s records and frozen its accounts, according to Xinhua.

1.2 1 May 2006

The death toll in a coal mine explosion in north-west China rose to 30 today as more bodies were recovered, the government said. Another two miners remained missing after the blast on Saturday afternoon (Apr 29) at the Wayaobao Coal Mine in Shaanxi province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. A total of 39 miners were working underground and seven managed to escape, it said. An investigation into the cause of the accident was under way, Xinhua said. Local authorities have detained the owner of the coal mine and other managerial staff, it said without giving any details.

1.3 2 May 2006Paper factory, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttaranchal State, India

A powerful explosion occurred at a northern Indian paper factory yesterday, killing at least 15 workers and injuring more than 50 others, reports said. The reports said hundreds of people who were initially reported to be trapped in the factory were all rescued. The blast and fire occurred at the factory in the town of Udham Singh Nagar, Uttaranchal State.

1.4 20 May 2006Textile factory, Shantou, China

Three people have been detained today following a textile company fire that killed 13 and seriously injured another one in the southern city of Shantou last night, local authorities said today. A man surnamed Liu and his son, the legal representative, the boss of the company, and the factory director surnamed Hong were captured by local police. The 13 dead, all female, were confirmed to be workers for the company, including 10 locals and three from outside of the town, police said. The fire broke out at 1243 yesterday at the four-storey building of the Chuanghui Textile Co. Ltd located at the Xinpo Village, Gurao Town in Guangdong Province, according to the Shantou municipal public security bureau. The injured worker has been rushed to a local hospital, police said, and an investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

1.5 26 May 2006Petrol tanker, Tanguieta, Benin

Doctors in Benin battled today to save dozens of people badly burnt in a petrol tanker blast after more died overnight, pushing the death toll past 50. More than 100 people were burnt to death or badly injured in the explosion late on Wednesday (May 24) as they tried to gather fuel pouring from a petrol tanker which plunged off the road into a ditch. Reinforcement doctors and extra medical supplies were dispatched north from the main city Cotonou, around 500 km from Tanguieta, where overstretched hospital staff have battled round the clock since Wednesday to treat the injured. “Twenty-nine people have died here at the hospital and 23 more died at the scene,” Florent Priili, a doctor and hospital coordinator at the St Jean de Dieu hospital, said. “Today we have to operate on some of the injured. Their burns are severe and there are people who will die if we don’t operate. We will have at least 50 operations to do today. I ask people to pray for us and for these people,” Priili said. The tanker was transporting gasoline to nearby Mali when it plunged into a ravine on Wednesday evening near the town of Porga on Benin’s border with Burkina Faso. Local people started collecting gasoline from the damaged tanker but the heat from the engine ignited the fuel and caused the explosion, local police said.

1.6 2 June 2006Coal mine, Balikesir Province, Turkey

A methane gas explosion has ripped through a coal mine in western Turkey, killing at least nine miners and trapping several others. Governor Selahattin Hatipoglu said at least nine miners were killed after the blast caused a shaft to collapse at the mine in the village of Odakoy in western Balikesir province, the semiofficial Anatolia news agency reported. Firefighters and military troops were trying to reach several more trapped miners, private NTV television reported, citing Hatipoglu. It was not clear at which depth the miners were trapped. Salvage workers earlier evacuated six injured miners and took them to a local hospital. Hatipoglu said local military commanders were leading the rescue operation at the site, some 475 km south of Istanbul.

1.7 17 June 2006Chemical plant, Dangtu County, China

Six people were killed and at least 30 were injured in a chemical plant blast, yesterday afternoon, in Anhui Province. A provincial government source said the blast occurred at a workshop of Dun’an Chemical Group Co Ltd in Dangtu County. The provincial government has formed a working team to organize the rescue operation.

1.8 17 June 2006

An explosion at a chemical plant in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui has killed at least 14 people and injured 30, Xinhua news agency reported today. It was not clear how many workers were inside the plant owned by the Dunan Chemical Group Co Ltd. when the blast happened yesterday afternoon, the report said. An initial investigation found that the factory produces explosives for civilian uses such as mining, and the presence of combustible material raised fears there could be more blasts and was making rescue work slow.

1.9 18 June 2006

Death toll in a chemical plant blast in east China’s Anhui Province rose to 14 as of yesterday afternoon, and two workers are still missing, a provincial work safety official confirmed. “The death toll has risen to 14, so far 24 injured workers are receiving medical treatment in hospital, and three of them are still in critical condition,” said Chen Shuo, deputy director of the Anhui Provincial Administration of Work Safety, in a briefing at the blast site in Dangtu County. The blast site has been cordoned off and rescue and search work is going on. The two-story workshop complex has been razed to the ground. Rescuers said that their work is difficult, since there are combustible materials in the plant, which might lead to further blasts. The blast occurred at 1509, Jun 16, at a workshop of Dun’an chemical Group Co, Ltd in Dangtu County. The provincial government has founded a working team, headed by Vice Governor Huang Haisong. According to an initial investigation, the plant produces explosives for such civilian uses as mining. The blast was ignited in the emulsification process of the powder.

1.10 19 June 2006

The death toll in a chemical plant explosion in eastern China has risen to 16, with 24 workers hospitalised with injuries, a state-run newspaper said today. The explosion on Friday (Jun 16) razed the two-story chemical explosives factory owned by the Dun’an Chemical Group Co Ltd in Anhui province. On Saturday, the government had said the explosion killed 14. Ten bodies recovered were identified as workers but the other six were burned beyond recognition, the China Daily newspaper said today. It was not immediately clear how many people were working at the time of the explosion. Some 24 workers were receiving treatment at local hospitals, the newspaper said. An initial investigation found that there were at least four tons of explosives in the workshop and the blast was probably triggered during powder mixing, it said.