A PIPELINE explosion at a power station in Central China’s Hubei Province killed at least 21 people and injured five more Thursday, local authorities said.

    The blast, which happened in a high-pressure steam pipeline, occurred at the coal-fired Madian Gangue Power Generation Co. Ltd. in Dangyang City at 3:20 p.m.

    Local officials rushed to the site to oversee rescue efforts and the cause of the blast was not immediately known. Rescue efforts were under way.

    A photograph purportedly from the scene showed a bare concrete shell and metal scaffolding standing by a smokestack.

    Three people were seriously injured and were being treated in hospital, reports said.

    Newspapers said the company operating the coal-fired plant was registered for power generation and sales of slag ash and petroleum products.

    Earlier this summer more than 130 people were taken to hospital after chemicals leaked from a plant in eastern China.

    In April a chemical fire burned for 16 hours in the coastal province of Jiangsu after an explosion at a facility storing chemicals and fuel, requiring 400 firefighters to quell the flames.

    China has vowed to improve industrial standards after chemical blasts in its port city of Tianjin last August killed 165 people in one of China’s worst-ever workplace accidents. The blasts caused over US$1 billion in damage.

    A government inquiry into the Tianjin accident released in February recommended 123 people be punished.

    (SD-Xinhua)