AROUND 60 people are to be punished for their roles in a chemical plant explosion that killed 19 workers and injured 12 in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province last July.

The blast ripped through the Yibin Hengda Technology Co., Ltd. in an industrial park in Jiang’an County in Yibin City on July 12, 2018, inflicting a direct economic loss of 41.4 million yuan (US$ 6.1 million).

Fifteen people, including Li Guanghui, the legal representative of the chemical firm, have been transferred to judicial authorities, the provincial emergency management bureau said Wednesday.

Four people, including director of the work safety and environmental protection bureau of the industrial park, are being investigated by local discipline inspection and supervisory authorities.

Another 44 people, including a deputy director of the administrative committee of the industrial park, are advised to be given disciplinary punishments for the production safety accident.

An investigation showed that workers put the wrong chemicals into the production facility and thus triggered the explosion.

The main cause, however, was the illegal construction and production that did not have government approval, the bureau said. Meanwhile, relevant government departments failed to conduct adequate supervision.

On the same day, in Beijing, the authorities said that dereliction of duty was blamed for a lab blast at the capital’s Jiaotong University that killed three students last December.

The explosion happened Dec. 26, 2018, when students were conducting experiments in a laboratory of the university. The three students were killed at the scene, according to the Beijing Emergency Management Bureau.

An investigation showed the hydrogen generated in the experiments was ignited by a spark caused by metal friction in the mixer and exploded. That caused the magnesium dust nearby to explode and the surrounding combustibles to burn.

The investigation said the risky experiments were conducted against relevant regulations. Dangerous chemicals were illegally purchased and stored in the lab and the university failed to oversee the safety of the laboratories.

Li Desheng, director of the research project, and Zhang Qiong, manager of the laboratory, will be investigated for criminal negligence, according to public security authorities.

(Xinhua)