Hong Kong/Beijing
CNN
–
On Tuesday, a massive explosion shook a chemical plant in eastern China, spitting out a plume of grey and orange smoke in the sky, damaging windows in nearby buildings, and urged local governments to launch rescue operations.
The explosion took place at a Shandong Youdao Chemical workshop in Gaomi city, Shandong province, just minutes before noon local time, and ongoing rescue and medical activities are ongoing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The CCTV report gave no reason for the explosion. There were no immediate reports of the casualties in state media.
A video circulating on Chinese social media shows grey and orange smoke swirling upwards, swallowing the building into an industrial park. Video shows windows in a nearby low-rise building have been damaged.
Local firefighters sent 55 vehicles and 232 staff to the scene, while the Ministry of Emergency Management had dispatched a working group and rescue reinforcement, the statement said in a statement.
A staff member who works at the hotel, about 3.5 km (2.2 miles) from the blast site, said they heard the explosion around noon.
“The sound was so loud that it lasted only a moment,” she told CNN, adding that she had not caused any damage to the hotel.
Another worker at the factory, about 6 km from the blast site, said she heard the boom and felt a “strong gust of wind.”
“I did not dare to leave my office because the strong gusts of airflow scared me,” the worker said. “The doors and windows of (my) factory were damaged. Air flowed through the window. If I had been a little closer, I might have been throwing me at the wall.”
Shandong Youdao Chemical is owned by Himile Group. HimileGroup also owns listed Himile Mechanical, whose shares fell nearly 4% on Tuesday afternoon.
Founded in August 2019, Shandong Youdao Chemical occupying more than 46 hectares of land in Gaomi Renhe Chemical Park and employs more than 300 people.
According to the website, it develops, produces and sells pesticides, pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates.
In 2015, a series of explosions in a chemical warehouse in the northeastern city of Tianjin killed more than 100 people and sent toxic smoke into the air.
