Jiangmen Mayor Vows to Tighten Control on Safety in Production

Jiang Jin, mayor of Jiangmen City, south China's Guangdong Province, pledged November 29 that they have learned a bitter lesson from June 30 explosion that caused numerous deaths and injuries.

He said that the city will make efforts to improve safety standards in production in all its enterprises.

On June 30, a major explosion took place in a Hong Kong-invested fireworks factory located in Jiangmen, killing 37 workers and injuring more than 100 others.

After the accident, the city inspected 11,923 industrial and commercial businesses and places with dangerous goods in an effort to wipe out future dangers.

Through the inspections, 238 of the companies were told to shut down, another 517 businesses were told to suspend production until their operational hazards were rectified, while 2,206 companies were left to take measures immediately or within a given period of time, said Mayor Jiang.

The city has also turned each year's June 30 as a "safety production warning day" so that the alarm bell for safety in production will always ring.

The June 30 accident has drawn concern from the central Chinese government. A special group sent by the State Economic and Trade Commission has concluded that the accident was caused by improper operations of a fireworks assembly worker, Wan Xiaoling.

Until now, the responsible persons, including Wan and a number of corporate leaders of the Hong Kong-finance company, have been detained. A group of other local officials who were put in charge of safety and production at the factory have also been given disciplinary actions.

Fireworks Factory Explosion

The death toll in the explosion of a fireworks factory in Jiangmen on June 30 has risen to 36 with more than 160 injured.

The explosion, happened at 8:05 am, leveled the 3,200 square-metre factory. More than 1,000 police and fire fighters and 16 fire trucks were dispatched to the scene.

The fireworks factory was owned by a foreign trade company of Jiangmen and operated by Hong Kong business people.

The operators have agreed to compensate the families. Initial compensations worth 500,000 yuan (US$60,240) have been sent to Jiangmen.





People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/