Authorities of Shanghai on Saturday announced an investigation of the massive chemical plant exposition that occurred causing one person’s demise. There also was another reported to be injured in the first major industrial accident from the time the lockdown of the city was lifted early in June.
On Saturday around dawn, the fire at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. plant built in the Jinshan district broke out and within hours was brought under control, according to the source of state news agency Xinhua.
Footage of the aerial view pertaining to the incident was shared by one of the residents, uncovering thick clouds of smoke looming over a broad industrial zone while three fires illuminated in separate locations. The footage captured clouds turned entirely black.
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The Shanghai government said on social media, “At present, on-site disposal work is being implemented in an orderly manner, and protective combustion is being carried out”. Further, they added that “safety risks” were manageable and “controllable”. “Upon monitoring data, it has been shown that the air quality has basically returned to normal.”
To this, the Shanghai government further added that their management bureau has presently launched an investigation that would help put matters into perspective.
The casualty was caused was of a “third-party transport vehicle driver” reported by the company along with an employee who suffered minor injuries.
The refinery is located down near the south Shanghai seafront along with a wetland park. Conducting environmental monitoring of the nearby area is the reason stated by the company.
They said, “At present, no environmental impact on the surrounding bodies of water has been found”.
The reason stated for the fire eruption was the cities going about with their business and being China’s industrial engine and most populous city after it was shut down for almost two months to counter a coronavirus outbreak driven by the omicron variant, Shanghai Plant Explosion.
Although the lockdown was officially lifted at the beginning of the month of June, the snarling of supply chains and the shutting down of prominent factories continued to have broad-reaching consequences for the economy globally.
Sky ‘full of fire’
Early this morning at the petrochemical plant an explosion was heard by the residents staying up to six kilometres (four miles) away, reported local media. One of the residents reported that the tremors resulting from the explosion caused their apartment door to shake violently.
An anonymous resident reported to Chongqing-based newspaper Upstream News, “half the sky was full of red fire and thick black smoke, there was dust and cotton-like things floating in the air.”
“The sound of burning could be heard – a huge roar like the sound of a plane in flight.” Images surfacing on social media capture a large cloud of fire and ash billowing upwards behind the houses’ rooftops.
The fire department of Shanghai commented on Weibo that it dispatched more than 500 personnel right after the incident took place. An expert group was dispatched to the acne by The Ministry of Emergency Management, state-run CCTV reported, Shanghai Plant Explosion.
