29 injured people discharged from hospital after fatal blast in China's Hunan

CHANGSHA -- The number of people discharged from hospital after a fireworks plant explosion in Liuyang, Central China's Hunan province, had totaled 29 as of 9 am Wednesday, according to the provincial and municipal health commissions.

Another 31 people were hurt and are still being treated in hospitals. Four out of five critically injured patients were downgraded to non-critical condition after receiving urgent medical care.

The explosion happened at around 4:43 pm on May 4 at the facility of Huasheng fireworks manufacturing and display company in Liuyang, a county-level city under Changsha, capital city of Hunan. As of 12:00 pm on May 8, the accident had claimed 37 lives and left one person missing.

The Hunan Provincial Health Commission and the Changsha Municipal Health Commission activated their emergency response mechanisms at the earliest possible time. Multi-disciplinary experts from intensive care units, burn departments, orthopedics, emergency rooms, and respiratory departments from several major hospitals in Changsha were quickly dispatched to Liuyang to treat the injured.

Yu Bo, an intensive care doctor from the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University who is involved in treating the critically injured, said most injuries were traumas and bone fractures.

"After all-out treatment, most of the injured are now in the recovery phase," said Liu Jiayong, Party secretary of the Changsha Municipal Health Commission. Liu added that the medical expert team has adopted a targeted treatment model and has classified and treated the critically severe, severe, and mild cases accordingly to ensure the best possible care for the injured.