HONG KONG — Explosions and fire tore through parts of a poultry plant in northeast China on Monday, killing at least 61 people. Dozens of injured workers were taken to the hospital and area residents fled.
Residents near the Baoyuanfeng Poultry Plant in Jilin Province heard three blasts at about 6 a.m. Parts of the plant were engulfed in flames, but it was unclear whether the fire spread before or after the explosions, Chinese television reported. The Jilin provincial government said 61 people were confirmed dead as of about midday, according to the television report.
Police officers and officials at the plant are investigating the cause of the accident, said the report, which showed the charred remains of a shed attached to a larger building, which also burned. The police evacuated residents near the plant, fearing more explosions from gas stored there, the China News Service reported.
China’s food processing industry has grown rapidly in recent years to feed an increasingly prosperous and urbanized population, and the poultry plant appeared to be one example of that growth.
Started in 2009, the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company, which owns the plant, has more than 1,200 employees and raises, slaughters and processes chickens, the China News Service said. The company can produce 67,000 tons of chicken products every year, the Agriculture Ministry said on its Web site in 2010.
China’s rapid economic expansion has brought with it factories and mines troubled by work hazards, and frequent industrial accidents have drawn criticism that officials put economic growth before safety. The government does not issue detailed figures for industrial accidents but has said that in 2011 the number of people killed in mines, factories and other work sites fell to fewer than 10,000.
Sue-Lin Wong contributed research from Beijing.
Residents near the Baoyuanfeng Poultry Plant in Jilin Province heard three blasts at about 6 a.m. Parts of the plant were engulfed in flames, but it was unclear whether the fire spread before or after the explosions, Chinese television reported. The Jilin provincial government said 61 people were confirmed dead as of about midday, according to the television report.
Police officers and officials at the plant are investigating the cause of the accident, said the report, which showed the charred remains of a shed attached to a larger building, which also burned. The police evacuated residents near the plant, fearing more explosions from gas stored there, the China News Service reported.
China’s food processing industry has grown rapidly in recent years to feed an increasingly prosperous and urbanized population, and the poultry plant appeared to be one example of that growth.
Started in 2009, the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company, which owns the plant, has more than 1,200 employees and raises, slaughters and processes chickens, the China News Service said. The company can produce 67,000 tons of chicken products every year, the Agriculture Ministry said on its Web site in 2010.
China’s rapid economic expansion has brought with it factories and mines troubled by work hazards, and frequent industrial accidents have drawn criticism that officials put economic growth before safety. The government does not issue detailed figures for industrial accidents but has said that in 2011 the number of people killed in mines, factories and other work sites fell to fewer than 10,000.
Sue-Lin Wong contributed research from Beijing.