China sends task force to probe blast at chemical plant where green group says ‘problems were known’
- Senior cabinet official Wang Yong will direct the rescue and emergency response efforts in Yancheng
- Thirteen safety issues were found at the factory during an inspection last year
Zhang Wenbin, from a local environmental protection group, recalled the scene when he arrived at the disaster zone surrounding the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical plant late on Thursday.
“The fire was not extinguished till 12am and the wind was blowing hard,” Zhang said. “We could only survey the scene from upwind of the site – we were worried about the toxic gas downwind.”
He said the nearest village was 500 metres from the plant, and it was deserted after the blast.
Zhang knows the area well – he said he had visited the industrial park with colleagues every year since 2014, testing for air and water pollution.
“The companies in the industrial park are built along the Guanjiang, and there are many hidden pipelines built by those companies to drain waste into the river, which flows into the Yellow Sea,” Zhang said. “In recent years, the environmental management has become more strict – but I don’t know if the pipelines have been removed or not.”
