Two fireworks blasts kill 9, injure 18 in Guangxi
( 2003-11-16 16:33) (Xinhua)
A second fireworks explosion claimed five lives and left another 13 people
seriously injured Saturday night in Beihai City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region. The site of the blast is just less than 10 km from that of
similar explosion Saturday morning.
The second explosion occurred at about 8:40 p.m. Saturday in a fireworks
workshop in Gongguan Town of Beihai. The first explosionhappened also at a
fireworks workshop Saturday morning in the sametown, killing four and seriously
injuring five.
All the injured in the two explosions had been hospitalized anddoctors said
they were in a critical condition.
The causes of the blasts are still under investigation and local government
officials have rushed to the sites to guide rescuing work.
According to local police, the first explosion occurred at about 8:50 a.m.
Saturday at an illegal fireworks workshop and the owner Guan Guoshou is now at
large. The second happened at Guangxi's largest fireworks enterprise, where a
blast happened in September this year killed seven people.
Gongguan town is known as the hometown of fireworks, and there is a profusion
of illegal fireworks workshops in and around the town.
Since October this year, the local government has cracked down on these
workshops and closed 121 illegal ones and detained four people.
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