Blast at factory killed 16 people, in eastern China

BEIJING (AP) — An explosion at a factory in eastern China killed 16 people and injured dozens early Sunday, authorities said.

The blast happened at 3 a.m. Sunday (1900 GMT Saturday) in an office building at a factory producing quartz sand in Fengyang, a county in Anhui province, a statement on the State Administration of Work Safety's Web site said.

The statement said that 43 were injured, one seriously at the factory owned by Jingxin Mining Ltd. Co., a private company. Calls to the company rang unanswered Sunday.

The city's deputy mayor, Wang Tuqiang, said the factory had illegally stockpiled about five tons of explosives on the factory's premises, according to a report by state broadcaster CCTV.

The explosion ripped through two office buildings and a workers' dormitory, causing them to collapse, the report said. Rescuers lowered listening devices into the rubble to search for survivors, but the report said there were no signs of life under the debris.

The report says police have arrested the owners of the factory.

The Fengyang county government declined to provide details on the cause of the blast, saying it was still collecting information.

Xinhua News Agency said most of those killed were factory workers, while CCTV said three of the 43 injured in the blast were residents and the others were employees.



by the assoicated press