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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

China factory blast death toll jumps to 64, man rescued after 40 hours

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Beijing: The death toll in a chemical plant explosion in China rose to 64 Saturday but rescuers found a survivor among more than two dozen still missing in the debris of one of the country’s worst industrial accidents in recent years.


Thursday’s explosion in the eastern city of Yancheng injured hundreds and flattened an industrial park.


The local fire brigade pulled a man in his 40s from the rubble of the destroyed chemical plant around dawn on Saturday, according to a statement on the city government’s official Weibo account.


He was taken to hospital for treatment, the statement said, without giving further detail of his status or injuries.


Rescuers are looking for 28 people who are still missing, Yancheng mayor Cao Lubao said in the statement.


More than 600 people have received medical treatment following the blast, according to the city government.


Among them, 21 are critically injured and 73 are seriously injured, the statement said.


The explosion toppled several buildings in the industrial park and caused a huge fire that raged through the night, while rescuers scrambled to find survivors in the plant’s wreckage.


Hundreds of rescuers were dispatched to the scene, local authorities said, and some 4,000 people have been evacuated from the blast site.


The force of the explosion — which was so powerful that it apparently triggered a small earthquake — blew out windows and dented metal garage doors of buildings as far as four kilometres from the site. — AFP


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