Four people were killed in a chemical works blast in Shanxi, three in the collapse of a workshop in Zhejiang, and at least five injured in serial fireworks explosions in Inner Mongolia in the past two days.

The explosion that killed four people in the northern province of Shanxi took place at 2:50 PM on Sunday afternoon, local police said, in a Jiangyang Chemical (Group) Co warehouse. One person was seriously wounded.

The company is a military firm, and a similar accident occurred there on June 21, injuring 336 people, 174 of whom were hospitalized. Eight counties, 27 villages and six schools were affected by the blast that time.

Production has been suspended and workers are clearing the site. Investigations into the cause are underway, said police, but initial analysis has found it to have been an accident during the production process.

The affected warehouse was used to store dynamite, and one of the dead was a customer from Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province. The other three worked at the plant.
 
Earlier the same day, a three-story steel-structure workshop collapsed in Yueqing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, killing three workers and injuring eight others. The manager, who was buried in the rubble, is still missing.

A local government source said the accident happened around 9:00 AM when the Yueqing Liantong Plugboard Co Ltd workshop, located in the suburban Xiangjinyang Industrial Zone, caved in during the construction process.

Three workers were killed on the spot and the eight wounded were still in hospital as of Monday, one still in a critical condition.

This workshop's boss insisted on adding second and third floors, despite this being illegal, and the local government had asked him to stop building, according to China Radio International.

The municipal government set up a team to deal with the aftermath and an investigation into the cause of the collapse is underway.

Yesterday, a series of fireworks explosions left at least five people injured in Chaohao Village of Hohhot in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, witnesses said that afternoon. It is still unclear whether the explosions caused any deaths.

The first explosion occurred at around 7:40 AM and they could still be heard at 3 PM, with thick smoke hanging over the village.

Local police have closed off the village, according to witnesses, and villagers have been evacuated. Five or six people have been hospitalized.

Chaohao has over 1,000 households, with over 80 percent making fireworks, villagers said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2005)