Tanker explosion kills 20, injures 172 in China
15 June 2020
A tanker truck explosion killed 20 people and injured 172 others on June 13. The tanker was carrying liquefied petroleum gas when the blast happened on a highway south of Shanghai in Zhejiang Province, eastern China.
Representative image: Shutterstock
Two significant explosions caused extensive damage to nearby buildings and sent a dark cloud of smoke into the sky. The incident happened at around 16:45 local time and caused several houses and workshops to collapse. Around 190 people, including 24 seriously injured, were treated at six different hospitals.
Although the cause behind the original explosion is unknown, a second explosion occurred after the tanker fell from the highway onto a factory workshop, state news agency Xinhua reports. An investigation into the incident has been opened.
The Chinese government has called for the investigation to be completed with haste and for the country’s traffic police to increase their focus on vehicles carrying hazardous materials.
Footage from the scene of the incident showed several collapsed buildings with firefighters searching the rubble for survivors. Around 34 fire trucks and 138 rescuers attended the scene while 62 fire trucks and a further 316 rescuers were brought in from other regions, Xinhua reports.
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