Death toll rises to 37 and one person missing after Chinese fireworks factory blast
Liuyang is known as China's fireworks capital because it manufactures 60% of the domestic supply of fireworks
The death toll has risen to 37 and one person remains missing after a fireworks factory explosion in China.
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The explosion happened at around 4:40pm on Monday in China's southern province of Hunan, in what is the deadliest blast reported in the country since 2019.
Rubble surrounded collapsed buildings at the site nestled amid lush, green mountains, with shattered glass littering nearby streets, while residents of damaged buildings began repairs on their homes in the city of about 1.5 million.
The city of Liuyang is known as China's fireworks capital because it manufactures 60 per cent of the domestic supply of fireworks and about 70 per cent of exports.
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State news agency Xinhua said on-site research and rescue work has been completed and 51 people are being treated at hospitals.
An investigation into the incident has been launched and police have summoned eight people for questioning on suspicion of causing the deadly explosion, state media said.
The probe is under the supervision of China's top prosecutors while Hunan has ordered the suspension of operations for all fireworks plants in the city for safety inspections.
Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing led senior officials on Tuesday in guiding emergency rescue and response efforts, the ruling Communist Party's China Daily newspaper said.
The state council, or cabinet, will set up an investigation team to look into the case, the paper added on Wednesday.
Monday afternoon's blast was at the Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Co, Xinhua and state broadcaster CCTV said. It even shattered doors and windows in neighbouring villages.
More than 1,500 firefighters, rescuers, medics and police fanned out in the search for survivors, employing 18 unmanned aerial drones and robots to comb the area for hazards and defuse them.
Authorities evacuated surrounding areas because of the risk from highly combustible black powder stored in two warehouses in the complex, Xinhua said. The scale of the evacuation was not immediately clear.
The latest in a string of industrial and fireworks accidents in China, the Liuyang blast spurred President Xi Jinping to demand a prompt investigation, with those responsible being held accountable.
Weeks earlier, a chemical plant explosion killed five people in China's northeast, highlighting the risks of storing hazardous and flammable materials in factories or warehouses.
In June, an explosion at a fireworks factory in Hunan killed nine people.
In 2019, a chemical plant blast in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu left 78 people dead.