By Nicoco Chan, Go Nakamura and Xihao Jiang
GAOMI, China (Reuters) -Black smoke hung over a chemical plant in eastern China on Wednesday, a day after a massive blast killed at least five people, flattened buildings and fuelled safety fears among residents living close to the factory.
Six people are still missing after the explosion at the plant in Gaomi, a city in the eastern province of Shandong, the official Xinhua news agency said. Another 19 were injured.
With nearby streets largely deserted, residents surveyed damage to homes and fretted about health risks.
“Ideally this chemical factory shouldn’t be so close to here … it’s too near, isn’t it? Especially at night when it’s operating, the smell from the factory is really strong,” farmer Yu Qianming told Reuters.
Local officials have yet to issue the results of air quality tests conducted on Tuesday in the area around the plant after the blast, the cause of which is not yet known.
The 69-year-old said he and his wife had moved their grandchild elsewhere as a precaution as smoke lingered over the plant, although they felt safe in their home as long as the wind kept blowing in another direction.
His family escaped without injury, he said, while showing Reuters roofing material that had collapsed and broken windows shattered by the force of the blast.
Police had blocked some roads leading to the factory.
Vehicles patrolled the perimeter of the site that sprawls over more than 47 hectares (116 acres), while drone footage showed multi-storey buildings flattened by the blast.
Scars from the blast could also be seen on buildings in the immediate area, some of them left blackened and crumpling.
‘REALLY CLOSE TO US’
Liu Ming, a 60-year-old who lives 500 metres (547 yards) away, said she was considering moving after her home and clothing store suffered extensive damage, though she did not have any firm plans yet.
“(The authorities) told us to stay in a hotel. It’s okay for a day or two, but look at us now. We have no land, nothing,” she added, picking up a large window frame pulverised by the blast and shards of glass strewn among boxes of thread and clothes on the floor.
“The fire was intense, bursting out fiercely, and it was really close to us,” she said.
Several shops away, another store owner had a minor head wound from the blast, which happened while he was eating lunch.
Local authorities in Shandong met for a briefing on the blast and to discuss safety concerns, provincial media said. The meeting focused on high-risk industries such as chemicals and coal.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, said it would directly supervise the investigation, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday, as it does with major incidents.
Set up in August 2019 in the Gaomi Renhe chemical park, the Shandong Youdao Chemical plant develops and makes chemicals used in pesticides and pharmaceuticals, the company said on its website, with more than 300 employees at the site.
Blasts in recent years at chemical plants in China have included one in the northwest region of Ningxia in 2024 and another in the southeastern province of Jiangxi in 2023.
In 2015, two massive explosions at warehouses of hazardous and flammable chemicals in the port city of Tianjin that killed more than 170 people and injured 700 prompted tougher laws on storage of chemicals.
(Reporting by Nicoco Chan, Go Nakamura and Xihao Jiang;Writing by Joe Cash, Liz Lee and Yukun Zhang; Editing by Michael Perry, Clarence Fernandez and Helen Popper)
