An explosion at a fireworks plant in Liuyang, China killed 26 people and injured 61 others Monday afternoon, Chinese state media reported. The blast struck facilities operated by the Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Co. in the county-level city of Liuyang, part of the larger Changsha municipality in Hunan province.
Aerial footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed white smoke still rising from collapsed and damaged structures on Tuesday. Windows in a nearby residential building were shattered by the force of the blast, and a resident who lives about a kilometer away told Beijing News the destruction extended into her home. "The glass windows in our homes were shattered, aluminum window frames were deformed, and even the stainless-steel doors were twisted out of shape," she said. Another resident told the outlet she had left the village out of fear.
More than 1,500 emergency responders were deployed, along with dogs, drones, and robots. Seven people were pulled from beneath debris. Authorities evacuated residents within a 3-kilometer radius, citing elevated danger from two black powder warehouses near the blast site. Rescuers sprayed water and applied humidification to reduce the risk of secondary explosions.
Changsha Mayor Chen Bozhang said search and rescue operations had largely been completed, but that casualty verification and victim identification were still ongoing. Police have detained the person in charge of the company. Authorities said environmental monitoring of air and water quality in the surrounding area showed normal readings as of Tuesday.
President Xi Jinping called for "all-out efforts" to find the missing and treat the injured, and ordered officials to investigate the cause quickly and pursue serious accountability. He also directed authorities to strengthen safety screening across key industries.
The injured range in age from their 20s to their 60s. Some sustained bone injuries from flying debris, CCTV reported. Stones were blasted onto nearby roads, forcing residents to take detours.
Liuyang carries a long history in fireworks production. The Guinness World Records organization has attributed the first accurately documented firework, the Chinese firecracker, to a monk named Li Tian who lived near the city during China's Tang dynasty, roughly 618 to 907 C.E. The city is now considered the world's largest fireworks producer. Explosions at fireworks factories and shops are not uncommon in China. In February, 12 people died in a blast at a fireworks store in Hubei province, and two other deadly explosions struck fireworks shops around the Lunar New Year period. China exported $1.14 billion worth of fireworks last year, accounting for more than two-thirds of global sales, according to Reuters.
