At least 5 are dead and 19 injured after a chemical plant explodes in China, authorities say

BEIJING (AP) — A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in China ’s eastern Shandong province around noon Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, according to local emergency management authorities. Another six people were missing.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

The blast was powerful enough to knock out windows at a warehouse more than two miles (three kilometers) away, according to a video shared by a resident, who declined to give his name out of concern about retaliation.

The resident said his home shook. As he went to the window, he saw a column of smoke from the site more than seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away.

Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co. is located in an industrial park in the city of Weifang. It manufactures pesticides as well as chemicals for medical use, and has more than 500 employees, according to corporate registration records.

Local fire officials sent more than 230 personnel to the scene, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.

A student at a school about 1,000 yards away from the plant told state-run news site The Paper that he heard one explosion and saw dirt-yellow smoke, tainted with redness, rising from the plant. He said there was a funny smell, and all students were given a mask and told not to remove it.

A staffer at the local environment bureau told The Paper that a team was dispatched to the scene to monitor potential pollution but had yet to report back.

The blast came less than two weeks after the National Ministry of Emergency Management held a workshop on preventing and controlling risks in the chemical industry, as Beijing urged officials at chemical industrial parks to boost their capabilities in “managing hazardous chemicals.”

Last year, the chemical plant was cited for “safety risks” at least twice, but in September it was praised by the Weifang Emergency Management Bureau for relying on party members to effectively manage workplace risks. Specifically, party members at Gaomi Youdao identified more than 800 safety hazards in the first eight months of 2024 and rectified all of them, the bureau said.

Workplace safety has improved over the years in China but remains a stubborn problem. The National Ministry of Emergency Management recorded 21,800 incidents and 19,600 deaths in 2024.

A warehouse complex storing large amounts of hazardous chemicals caught fire and exploded in Tianjin in 2015, leaving 173 dead or missing.

In 2019, 78 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant in Yancheng in China’s eastern coastal province of Jiangsu.

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AP video producer Olivia Zhang, researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing and writer Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this report.