9 confirmed dead in explosive disposal accident in North China

SHIJIAZHUANG -- Nine Chinese workers previously announced missing during an explosive disposal operation that went wrong on Wednesday have been confirmed dead, local government said on Friday.

The government of Chicheng county, North China's Hebei province, said on its website that the search and rescue work was completed Thursday night, with the nine people confirmed dead.

An explosion happened at 5:15 pm Wednesday when the workers of Anchen Security and Blasting Services Co Ltd were disposing of expired explosives of a coal chemistry company. Three workers suffered from injuries and nine were reported missing at the moment.

Anchen is licensed to provide blasting service for civilian use. The local authority is probing into the cause of the accident.