Qingdao continues recovery (5)

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Xi Jinping listens to work reports on rescue efforts following Friday's oil pipeline blast in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, on the afternoon of Nov 24, 2013. Fifty-two people were confirmed dead in the blast.(Photo/xinhuanet.com)

Angry residents

Other residents said the devastation could have been far worse if the nearby Lidong chemical plant hadn't suspended production on Friday for planned maintenance.

"The whole district might have been turned to ashes if the chemicals in the plant had exploded," said maintenance worker Lan Shoulian. The street looks like it was dug up by excavators, said the 45-year-old, who dragged a bloodstained man from his wrecked car in the aftermath of the blast.

Qingdao municipal government has announced that it will check all pipelines under the city and formulate an overall revamping plan to ensure that an accident to one pipeline will not affect the others, but that has failed to assuage the anger of some locals.

"I am furious. We knew nothing about the oil pipeline. It was a ticking time bomb and it has got to go," said Xue.

Yang Yang and Hu Qing contributed to the story

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