The calamity took place at Changling Firecrackers Factory in Baishishui Town, Pubei County, in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region just three days after the PRCs National Day on 1 October. Media reports said the factory employed 120 workers on a seasonal basis and the explosion had razed six factory buildings to the ground.
Official media reported that Chinas Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang has ordered an investigation of the cause of the explosion and help for the injured.
Luo Xianxin, acting county chief, was quoted as saying the factory was a county collective business that produced goods worth 5 million Yuan in 2003 and was charged taxes of one million Yuan.
It is the third accident to have occurred in fireworks factories in Pubei county since May. On 20 August, an explosion occurred at a fireworks factory in Beitong Town in which the factory manager was killed by falling rubble. In May, another blast at an unauthorized or underground fireworks factory in the same town killed two workers and injured about ten others. Two children who were playing in the rubble after the initial blast were also injured when some of the remaining explosives ignited.
A villager who lives around one kilometre from the Changling factory told China Labour Bulletin that one of his fellow villagers was killed and another was injured in the accident, which also shattered the windows of neighbouring villagers houses.
Meanwhile, a nurse from the surgical ward of Qinzhou City Peoples Hospital informed CLB that her hospital was treating six seriously injured patients from the factory blast, two of whom suffered 100 percent burns to their bodies. They are still in critical condition and could die at any time, she added. Zhanghuang Town Hospital, near Baishishui Town, admitted three other injured patients, one of whom is also in critical condition, a nurse there said.
According to local residents at Baishishui Town, most of the workers in the fireworks factory are women from poor farming families in neighbouring villages who have difficulty in paying for their childrens school fees. Since conditions at the factory were known to be dangerous, most of the other villagers were unwilling to work there. The female workers at the firecrackers factory are said to earn a monthly salary of 300 to 500 Yuan.
A deputy secretary of the Communist Party Committee in Baishishui Town told CLB he had skipped his National Day holidays in order to visit the site of the accident, and an official of the Qinzhou Municipal Government said officials from all levels including autonomous region, municipal and county levels - had arrived in Baishishui town to assist the county government in setting up emergency taskforces to handle the accident.
According to a 5 October report from the official Xinhua News Agency, the Pubei County government has offered the paltry sum of 4,000 Yuan (around US$ 500) in compensation to the bereaved families. The registered owner of the Changling Firecrackers Factory, Ma Dezhong, is now under official investigation and the factory account has been frozen.
Although the Chinese government has taken steps to improve production safety, numerous unsafe or illegal fireworks factories still operate around the country, with many hiring people in rural areas to work at home or in small, poorly monitored factories with little or no effective safety provision.
According to statistics released by the State Administration of Work Safety on 4 August 2004, a total of 426,283 industrial accidents occurred in the first six months of this year and altogether 63,735 people died in these accidents. Some 70 accidents involving fireworks factories occurred, causing 153 deaths, during the same period.
Sources: China Labour Bulletin, Xinhua News Agency, South China Morning Post
18 October 2004