Five workers have been confirmed dead after a workshop in a chemical factory in north China exploded, a spokeswoman with the city government said on Saturday morning.

 

 

Eighteen people are still receiving treatment in local hospitals, including 14 with "serious injuries," mostly because of the blast shock wave, said Li Li, a spokeswoman for the Cangzhou city government.

 

The blast occurred at 1:40 P.M. on Friday at a workshop in Cangzhou Dahua TDI Co. Ltd. in Hebei Province, killing three people on the spot, according to the provincial work safety bureau.

 

The blast also damaged most of the houses in the nearby Dazidian village some 200 meters away, which is inhabited by about 4,000 people.

 

"Cracks measuring one to two centimeters wide are seen on the walls of 80 percent of the houses in the village, and some of the villagers were injured by flying window glasses, but no house has collapsed," said Zhao Guoqing, an official in the village.

 

"I thought it was an earthquake when the house shook and dashed out of it as quickly as possible. There was something like the snowflakes in the air, which I learnt later was industrial foams from the explosion," Zhao recalled.

 

 

Fearing possible toxic gas leak, more than 2,000 residents in the village were initially evacuated but returned to their homes by Friday evening.

 

The blast in the nitration workshop section led to a fire in the toluene supply slot, according to a spokeswoman for the Cangzhou city government.

 

The fire was put out around 4:30 P.M. on Friday.

 

The company is one of the major TDI producers in China. TDI, or Toluene diisocyanate is primarily used as a chemical intermediate in the production of polyurenthane products.

 

Investigations into the cause of the explosion are underway.

 

 

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2007)