The death toll from an explosion at a chemical plant in China’s eastern Jiangsu province has climbed to 64, while 28 people remain missing, official news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The authorities in the city of Yancheng, where Thursday's accident occurred, said that rescue teams were working round the clock to try and find those still missing. One survivor was rescued on Saturday morning. </s> The death toll from an explosion that ripped through a chemical plant in the eastern province of Jiangsu rose to 64 on Saturday morning, state media said, as local authorities continue searching for survivors.

The blast Thursday at the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Co., in Chenjiagang, was the latest reminder of continued industrial risks in China, which has seen several large factory explosions in recent years. The latest incident left 94 people with severe injuries and 28 people were still unaccounted for as of 7 a.m. Saturday, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the local government.

A cause has yet to be determined and local authorities were working to prevent chemical leaks, according to state broadcaster CCTV. More than 600 had suffered at least minor injuries, the Yancheng city government said on Friday.

Police have taken people into custody over the incident, according to the statement, which didn’t offer further details on the detentions.

China has been seeking to tighten safety after industrial accidents that included a massive explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin, which killed 173 people. A blast at an auto parts plant in Suzhou in 2014 killed 146 people.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, set up an investigation team Friday to determine a cause of the Jiangsu explosion, CCTV said. </s> At least 19 people were killed and 12 injured Thursday evening in a chemical plant blast in Sichuan, southwest China, said the Xinhua news agency on Friday.

According to Xinhua, the blast occurred around 18.30 pm local time (1000 GMT) at Yibin Hengda Technology Co., a chemical plant in an industrial park in southwestern Jiang'an County, the city of Yibin.

The Jiang'an county government said the fire from the blast was put out on Friday morning and the injured were in stable condition, said Xinhua. </s> BEIJING (AP) — The local government reports the death toll in an explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China has risen to 44, with another 90 people seriously injured.

Thursday's blast at the Tianjiayi Chemical plant in the city of Yancheng is China's worst industrial accident in years, with nearly 1,000 area residents moved to safety as of Friday as a precaution against leaks and additional explosions.

Windows in buildings as far as about 6 kilometers (3 miles) were blown out by the force of the blast.

The Yancheng city government said on its official microblog that 3,500 medical workers at 16 hospitals had been mobilized to treat the injured.

China has long struggled with industrial safety. A 2015 explosion at a chemical warehouse in the city of Tianjin killed 173 people. </s> An explosion at a pesticide plant in eastern China has killed 47 people and injured more than 600, state media said on Friday, the latest casualties in a series of industrial accidents that has angered the public.

The blast occurred on Thursday at the Chenjiagang Industrial Park in the city of Yancheng, in Jiangsu province, and the fire was finally brought under control at 3 a.m. on Friday (1900 GMT), state television said.

Survivors were taken to 16 hospitals with 640 people being treated for injuries. Thirty-two of them were critically injured, it said.

The fire at a plant owned by the Tianjiayi Chemical Company spread to neighboring factories. Children at a kindergarten in the vicinity were also injured in the blast, media reported.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation, but the company — which produces more than 30 organic chemical compounds, some of which are highly flammable — has been cited and fined for work safety violations in the past, the China Daily said.

President Xi Jinping, who is in Italy on a state visit, ordered all-out efforts to care for the injured and to “earnestly maintain social stability,” state television said.

Authorities must step up action to prevent such incidents from happening and find out the cause of the blast as quickly as possible, Xi added.

“There have recently been a series of major accidents, and all places and relevant departments must fully learn the lessons from these,” the report cited Xi as saying.

The Jiangsu environmental protection bureau said in a late Thursday statement the environmental monitoring station in the area had found no abnormal concentrations of toluene, xylene or benzene.

Concentrations of acetone and chloroform outside the perimeter of the explosion zone were also within normal limits, it added.

Jiangsu will launch inspections on chemical producers and warehouses, according to an emergency notice published by official media on Friday.

The notice, published on the news website of Jiangsu province’s Communist Party, said the government would shut down any chemical firms found not complying with regulations on dangerous chemicals.

Public anger over safety standards has grown in China over industrial accidents ranging from mining disasters to factory fires that have marred three decades of swift economic growth.

In 2015, 165 people were killed in a series of explosions at a chemical warehouse in the northern city of Tianjin.

The explosions at Tianjin, one of the world’s busiest ports and not far from the capital, Beijing, were big enough to be seen by satellites and register on earthquake sensors.

Despite repeated pledges by the government to tighten safety, chemical plants in particular have been plagued by disasters.

In November, a series of blasts during the delivery of a flammable gas at a chemical manufacturer killed 23 people. </s> BEIJING (Reuters) - A blast near a chemical plant in China’s northern Hebei province early Wednesday killed 22 people and injured at least 22 others, the local government said.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the blast in Zhangjiakou city, the local government said in an online statement. </s> Nineteen people have been killed in an explosion at a chemical plant in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, local authorities said.

The explosion happened at 6.30pm on Thursday in an industrial zone in Jiangan county, according to a statement issued by the Sichuan Industry Safety Supervision Administration.

Twelve people were injured in the accident, the cause of which is under investigation, the statement said.

None of those injured were in a critical condition, according to the local government.

Footage from state television channel CCTV showed heavy smoke rising from the factory, which was owned by the Hengda Science and Technology Company.

Fire crews sent to the scene put out the fire later on Thursday and local firefighters told that the blast had been caused by exploding methanol but did not provide further details.

The reported that a mainland business registration database showed that Hengda had been established three years ago and was listed as a chemical product manufacturer and distributor.

Last year the provincial Environmental Protection Department approved its application to lease more land in the industrial zone to build more facilities for producing chemical intermediates, the newspaper reports. </s> 22 people died and 22 more were injured in an explosion near a chemical plant in China's city of Zhangjiakou, the city’s authorities said in a statement.

The fire after the explosion has destroyed 38 trucks and 12 cars, according to reports.

The blast occurred at 0:41 a.m. (16:41 on Tuesday GMT). ​The search and rescue operation as well as the investigation into the causes of the explosion are ongoing. </s> BEIJING (AP) — A chemical plant explosion Thursday in eastern China has killed six people and left 30 badly injured.

The blast occurred at an industrial park, the city government of Yancheng in Jiangsu province said. A statement on its official social media account said the explosion originated at the Tianjiayi Chemical production facility and its cause was under investigation.

Nearly 400 personnel and 86 fire trucks were dispatched to the scene, the statement said.

A video posted on state broadcaster CCTV's website shows huge plumes of smoke spewing from a factory building and spreading over the area. Windows and garage doors appear to shatter at the moment of the blast.

A man staying at a hotel 5 to 6 kilometers (about 3 miles) from the explosion said by phone that glass in buildings along the entire street shattered, and at least four people in his hotel were wounded.

The man, who asked to be identified only by his surname, Ding, said a student at a nearby elementary school was also hurt.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, 31 people had been rescued, CCTV reported.
Officials report the death toll is now 62 from Thursday's chemical plant explosion in Chenjiagang Industrial Park in northeastern Jiangsu Province, with 94 others seriously injured and 28 people still missing.