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Linda Lew

A man from northern China has been arrested for spreading rumours that 18 firefighters were killed by toxic fumes while responding to Thursday’s pesticide factory explosion in Yancheng, Jiangsu province.
Investigators alleged that the suspect, a 21-year-old surnamed Shi from Shanxi province, “had fabricated and spread false rumours online, causing confusion and disturbing public order”, Yancheng city police said on Sunday.
On Friday, the man used Chinese internet company Baidu’s Tieba internet forum to claim that 18 of the city’s firefighters died from inhaling toxic fumes at the plant, police said.
Provincial fire chiefs said no crew members were killed or injured while responding to the explosion.

According to city authorities, at least 78 people were killed and more than 600 injured by the blast at Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical factory, making it one of the deadliest industrial accidents in recent years.
Tests carried out on Friday showed the amount of toxic nitrogen oxide in the air was almost twice the national safety level for industrial areas.
The welfare of first responders at chemical fires became a serious concern after 104 firefighters perished in the 2015 Tianjin port explosions, more than half of the 173 people killed in the blasts. Firefighters were sent to contain a fire in a warehouse that stored hazardous chemicals, unprepared for the explosions triggered by the blaze.
Explosions and landslides – the worst industrial accidents in China since 2014
The Jiangsu rumour was dismissed by police on Saturday, and by the fire services branch of the Ministry of Emergency Management the next day.
“Someone is spreading rumours that 18 firefighters had died. Hateful [behaviour]!” the fire services message read, above an image of the post containing the rumour.
Although China tightly controls public forums, online and offline, rumours concerning large-scale incidents proliferate in part due to scant information provided by the authorities and in part because some people exploit events to seek attention.

Two days after the Tianjin port explosions, a resident surnamed Kang was detained for five days for spreading a rumour that the death toll had reached 1,300, of whom nearly 500 were civilians, People’s Daily reported.
China’s Cyberspace Affairs Commission shut down more than 90 Weibo accounts and 70 WeChat public accounts, and suspended another 200 public social accounts, for rumour-mongering after the Tianjin accident, the report said.


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China society

Chinese man arrested for spreading rumours of firefighter fatalities in Jiangsu chemical factory blast blaze

Firefighters assess the damage at Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical plant in Xiangshui county, Yancheng, Jiangsu province, where 78 people are known to have been killed by an explosion. Photo: Reuters

(190322) -- XIANGSHUI, March 22, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Aerial photo taken on March 22, 2019 shows the site of an explosion at a chemical industrial park in Xiangshui County of Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province. Thousands of firefighters and medical workers and hundreds of ambulances and fire trucks have joined an all-out rescue after an explosion rocked a chemical plant Thursday in an industrial park in Xiangshui County. The blast has killed at least 47 people and injured hundreds of others, 90 of them seriously. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

Chemical plant explosion sends China dye stocks surging, sinks affected firms

All companies in Xiangshui Biochemical Park, where the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical plant is located, have been shut down temporarily, according to the local government. Photo: AP

China chemical plant explosion: relatives grieve and villagers flee like refugees

Xiangshui People’s Hospital is overwhelmed by the injured and their families. Photo: Sidney Leng

Injured residents in Xiangshui county hospital. 22MAR19 SCMP / Sidney Leng

Pollution containment stepped up at site of Yancheng chemical factory blast in China

Relatives look for a missing worker at the site of the chemical factory blast. Photo: Reuters

(190323) -- XIANGSHUI, March 23, 2019 (Xinhua) -- A rescuer works at the site of an explosion at a chemical industrial park in Xiangshui County of Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province, March 22, 2019. The death toll from an explosion in a chemical plant in east China's Jiangsu Province has risen to 64 as of 7 a.m. Saturday, authorities said. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

Gu Zhiyou's home was among hundreds in Wangshang village that were damanged by the blast. He used roofing tiles to temporarily cover the broken window. 24MAR19 SCMP/Sidney Leng

Dozens of wrokers were fighting against time to repair Wangshang primary school that was damaged by the explosion in nearby Tianjiayi chemical plant. 24MAR19 SCMP/Sidney Leng

‘I knew it was a time bomb’: China chemical plant blast was not the first at industrial park

Yancheng mayor Cao Lubao at news conference. Photo: CCTV

A firefighter carries a man to safety on Saturday morning, 40 hours after the deadly blast at a chemical plant in eastern China. Photo: Weibo

News

China

People & Culture

Authorities dismiss ‘hateful’ internet post
Fire chiefs say none of their crews died fighting Thursday’s blast


Authorities dismiss ‘hateful’ internet post, while Jiangsu fire chiefs say none of their crews were among 78 dead in Thursday’s disaster.


Weibo

China chemical plant explosion

Chinese man arrested for spreading rumours of firefighter fatalities in Jiangsu chemical factory blast blaze

Authorities dismiss ‘hateful’ internet post Fire chiefs say none of their crews died fighting Thursday’s blast

Authorities dismiss ‘hateful’ internet post

Fire chiefs say none of their crews died fighting Thursday’s blast