Commission to lead blast investigation

The State Council's Work Safety Commission will supervise the investigation of a deadly gas explosion in Central China's Hubei province on Sunday morning, the commission announced on Monday as the death toll from the blast rose.

The commission and the Ministry of Emergency Management held a joint video conference on Monday that urged local governments to learn from the incident and eliminate safety hazards in chemical storage facilities, large commercial complexes, industrial parks and gas and oil companies in densely populated areas, and to be strictly on guard to prevent major accidents.

Together with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Emergency Management has asked local governments to locate markets that use gas and make sure they all have gas leakage alert systems installed as soon as possible, a statement released after the conference said.

The blast happened at around 6:30 am in a two-story building in Shiyan's Zhangwan district. The first floor of the building was a market and some people lived on the second floor.

By 8pm on Monday, the number of fatalities had increased to 25, up from 12 on Sunday. The blast also injured more than 100 people, some of them critically, Shi Zheng, the head of Hubei Provincial Emergency Management Department, told a news conference in Shiyan on Monday.

"The search and rescue work is still ongoing," Shi said. "We won't leave until the situation is all clear. Also, we will eliminate the hazards of secondary disasters and prevent further explosions."

Wang Xiao, vice-mayor of Shiyan, told the news conference that more than 2,000 people, including 210 firefighters, have been involved in the search and rescue work, and that 913 households near the market have been evacuated for their safety.

"The city has carried out inspections of gas pipelines and has them closely monitored, especially in old neighborhoods," Wang said.

Ying Yong, Party secretary of Hubei, arrived at the scene of the accident on Monday afternoon, Hubei Daily reported. He asked local authorities to get to the bottom of the incident while continuing to put maximum effort into search and rescue work.

"No corner should be left unturned and even a glimmer of hope is worth all the efforts when saving lives," Ying said while addressing the search and rescue teams.

He added that the local government also needs to take care of those who need to be temporarily relocated because of the accident.

The commission and the Ministry of Emergency Management also asked local governments to better educate the public about evacuation procedures and to carry out drills so they won't panic when accidents happen, the statement said.

It added that personnel from the commission and the Ministry of Emergency Management were on site in Shiyan after the accident to coordinate search and rescue efforts and minimize casualties.

They also started to investigate the cause of the accident. The commission will supervise the investigation and those held responsible will be dealt with in accordance with the law.