BLAST at a manufacturer of paraxylene in Fujian Province earlier this month was caused by the poor quality of the chemical plant’s equipment and has been determined as an accident due to negligence, said a spokesperson of the State Administration of Work Safety at a press conference in Beijing yesterday.

    The PX plant’s people in charge “put benefit before work safety” and chose the bidder that offered the lowest cost of building for the equipment, said Huang Yi, the spokesman, at the press conference held in the State Council Information Office.

    According to the investigation’s latest findings, the blast was caused by a leak of paraxylene from a crack in a tube due to the poor welding of joints. The boiler came in contact with the flammable material and exploded.

    The inappropriate layout of placing boilers too close to storage tanks poured oil over the flames: the exploded boiler’s blast wave tore the biggest storage tank nearby, ignited the paraxylene and caused huge fires.

    “The blast exposed serious problems in the chemical plant’s safety management and local government’s supervision,” Huang said. “We must severely deal with whoever and whichever department is related to the accident.”

    The explosion happened in the PX plant of Tenglong Aromatic Hydrocarbon (Zhangzhou) Co. Ltd. on the Gulei Peninsula in Zhangzhou, Fujian, on April 6. The accident injured six and forced a total of 29,096 residents in the surrounding area to evacuate.

    It was the second accident in 20 months at the same plant.

    (SD-Agencies)