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WORLD NEWS Saturday 23 March 2019

China chemical plant blast kills 47, injures hundreds more

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN The higher death toll, raised
Associated Press from 44 but with no change
BEIJING (AP) — A massive in the number of injured,
explosion at a chemical suggested rescue crews
plant in eastern China with were still finding bodies at
a long record of safety vio- the blast site.
lations has killed at least 47 The Yancheng city govern-
people and injured hun- ment statement said 3,500
dreds of others, 90 of them medical workers at 16 hos-
seriously. pitals were mobilized to
Thursday’s blast in an in- treat the injured, dozens of
dustrial park in the city of whom remained in critical
Yancheng, north of Shang- condition.
hai, was one of China’s The U.N. said Secretary-
worst industrial accidents in General Antonio Guterres
recent years. State-run tele- was “deeply saddened” at
vision showed crushed cars, the loss of life and injuries
blown-out windows and and sent “heartfelt sympa-
workers leaving the factory thies” to the families of the
with bloodied heads. victims and to the people
Schools were closed and and government of China.
nearly 1,000 residents were The cause of the blast was
moved to safety as a pre- under investigation, and
caution against leaks and In this Thursday, March 21, 2019, photo, rescuers walk near the site of a factory explosion in a people responsible for op-
additional explosions, the chemical industrial park in Xiangshui County of Yancheng in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. erations at the plant have
city government said in a Associated Press been placed “under con-
statement posted to its mi- A resident of the commu- Chinese President Xi Jin- well as secondary disas- trol,” Xinhua said. It wasn’t
croblog. nity of Chenjiagang, about ping, on a state visit to Italy, ters,” it quoted Xi as saying. clear whether anyone had
The blast created a crater, 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) demanded “all-out efforts” Xi said local officials need been formally arrested.
and more than 900 firefight- from the plant, said glass to find and rescue victims, to learn the lessons of a re- State media said the State
ers were deployed to extin- from windows smashed by the official Xinhua News cent series of industrial ac- Council, China’s Cabinet,
guish the fire that burned the force of the blast in- Agency reported. cidents to save lives and had been ordered to over-
into the night. jured neighbors. “Relief work must be well property, signaling a likely see the investigation.
Windows in buildings as “At the time of the explo- done to maintain social crackdown on safety viola- China experiences fre-
far as 6 kilometers (4 miles) sion, I was almost deaf- stability. Meanwhile, envi- tions at a time when many quent industrial accidents
away were blown out by ened and I was terribly ronmental monitoring and Chinese companies are despite orders from the
the force of the blast, which frightened,” said the wom- early warning should be being hit by a downturn in central government to im-
caused a magnitude 2.2 an, who gave only her sur- strengthened to prevent sales that is squeezing profit prove safety at factories,
seismic shock. name, Zhi. environmental pollution as margins. power plants and mines. q

Ukrainian presidential candidate meets Russian PM in Moscow

Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) — A Ukrainian presidential candidate has
traveled to Moscow to meet with the Russian prime minis-
ter to discuss gas supplies.
Yuri Boyko, a rare openly pro-Russian candidate, trails far
behind a comedian, a former premier and the incum-
bent president in opinion polls ahead of Ukraine’s presi-
dential election on March 31.
Boyko spoke with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medve-
dev on Friday in the meeting that was televised live on
Ukrainian television. Boyko said he would like Ukraine to
resume gas purchases from Russia, which should lower
the skyrocketing utility bills for Ukrainians.
The very visit is rare for Ukrainian politicians these days,
since any connections to Russia are largely regarded
as toxic because of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, shakes hands with Ukrainian presidential candidate
peninsula in 2014 and its ongoing support for separatists in Yuri Boyko, center, as Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, right, attends their meeting in
Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 22, 2019.
the deadly conflict in Ukraine’s east.q Associated Press