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CHINA /
Regional

47
killed in village explosion in Shanxi
(chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua)
Updated:
2006-07-07 10:12

A powerful explosion at a villager's home in Shanxi
province killed 47 people and injured 20 others
early Friday morning, Xinhua reported.

Earlier reports
put the death toll at 30, but it rises as rescue operation
goes on.

The blast, said to be triggered off by
explosives stored home, occurred at about 6:30am at the home
of a villager in Dongzhai Village, Dongzhai Township, Ningwu
county, north China's Shanxi province.

A county official said the villager's home caught fire
first and then many villagers rushed there to help extinguish
the blaze.

Suddenly, an explosion occurred and 37 were killed in the
explosion, and ten more died in the process of medical
treatment.

Preliminary investigation found that the explosion was
caused by illegally stored explosives in the fire, the
official said. But it is unknown how much explosive the
villager illegalled stored at his one-story house.

Rescue efforts are underway there and local officials have
rushed to the site to direct the rescue operation. More than
200 fire fighters, armed police and public security police are
busy clearing off the debris from the explosion.

The cause of the explosion is under further investigation,
Xinhua reported.

Zhang Baoshun, secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee
of the Communist Party of China (CPC), demanded that all out
efforts be made to rescue the injured, and responsible persons
be punished according to law.

Ningwu County, administered by Xinzhou City, takes a bus
ride of more than four hours to reach from Taiyuan, the
provincial capital.

Party and government authorities of Ningwu and Xinzhou have
rushed to the spot to oversee the rescue work.

A rescue headquarters, with the leader of Ningwu County
Government as the commander-in-chief and consisting of seven
specialized-task missions, has been formed to carry out the
rescue operation.

More than 200 fire fighters, armed police and public
security police are busy clearing off the debris from the
explosion.

Ningwu was not the first time shattered
by this fatal blast. In July 2 last year, a gas explosion at
the Jiajiabao Coal Mine in Ningwu killed 36 people and injured
11. The mine's owner hid the bodies of 17 dead miners after
explosion to evade punishment.

With vast coal
reserves, Shanxi Province, commonly known as "sea of coal, is
the biggest coal producer in China. However, legions of fatal
accidents occur in the province each year, and tragedies
caused by illegal storage of explosives used for mining.

A similar bloody explosive explosion occurred in
Yuanping City of the province in April this year. More than
three tons of explosives illegally hidden in the garage of the
staff hospital affiliated to the Xuangang Coal and Electricity
Company detonated, killing 34 people.

In June this
year, 10 people were killed when privately stored explosives
went off in a residential building in Fanshi County of Shanxi
Province.

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