Chemical Plant Explodes in China; 47 Killed

On 21 March 2019, Jiangsu Tianjiayi, a chemical plant in China, exploded, setting off a tremor which matched a 2.2 magnitude earthquake.

The chemical company is on the border of the city of Yancheng in Jiangsu Province.

The plant was made in Xiangshui County in 2007 and creates pesticides.

An inspection was done last year by the State Administration of Work Safety, which found major leaks, a lack of safety training, poor management, and a lack of operating procedures.

The explosion went off a little bit before 3:00 p.m. As of information gathered now, forty-seven people have been killed while ninety have been injured.

A resident that lives near the plant said “the road is filled with injured people.”

Most residents of the area are fleeing out of caution because most think the air is toxic and water may be contaminated.

More than nine hundred emergency professionals responded to the fires. By 7:00 a.m. the next day, the fires were cleared.

Approximately four thousand workers and local homeowners were forced to evacuate once the blast went off.

Lately, China has been trying to increase safety standards after explosions have occurred.

In 2015, there was an explosion that occurred in the port city of Tianjin, which killed 173 people.

Also, in 2018, twenty-three people were killed in an explosion near a chemical plant in Hebei Province.

“I am scared this could happen in the United States because it is a possibility everywhere you go. The employees should be trained properly. The death toll should not be that high, and they should have done more to prevent it because this isn’t the first time and they need to prevent this before it happens again. I do think this could have been prevented; it was very irresponsible,” Fleetwood Area High School senior Chloe Allison stated.