Authorities have started investigating the cause of the deadly blast of a chemical plant in southwest China’s Sichuan Province as supervision loopholes emerge.

The Sichuan provincial work safety department heads the investigation team. Those responsible for the tragedy will be held to account based on solid and clear investigation results, said a statement released by the department.

The blast occurred at about 6:40 pm Thursday in an industrial park of Jiang’an County in the city of Yibin, which claimed the lives of 19 people and injured another 12.

Buildings of the chemical plant caught fire after the blast. /Photo from Jiang’an County TV Station

“We will actively cooperate with the investigation team to find out the cause of the accident as soon as possible and reflect on our oversight,” Zhu Li, head of the county, said during the news conference on Friday.

Though it’s not known when a conclusion can be made, local officials acknowledged that loopholes have existed in the supervision of the Hengda Technology Company that ran the plant.

Cheng Mingquan, deputy director of the county’s work safety supervision bureau, revealed at the news conference that the company started constructing the project before fulfilling required procedures. It persisted despite prohibition and penalties.

Besides, the plant had yet to pass fire safety assessments, an essential step before a plant can go into operation. Nevertheless, trial operations have begun months ago.

“The project’s firefighting design was approved in June 2017, but the company has never applied for approval of its construction,” said Yao Yunhui, chief of Jiang’an County’s firefighting brigade.

Now the wounded are receiving treatment in local hospitals. Most of them suffered different degrees of hearing loss due to the tremendous sound of the explosion. Tian Huaqing, an employee of the plant, is the most seriously injured of the surviving workers, with a fracture to his right arm, slight lung damage and numerous scalds.

“I heard a loud bang just as I was walking up to the building to start my night shift, then I saw the flames. I was thrown to the ground and I realized my arm was broken instantly. I was trying to escape but I couldn’t stand up,” the 54-year-old recalled.

“Some of my fellow workers were crying loudly, being frightened by the explosion and big fires,” he added.

Chen Kang, a doctor from the Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, told CGTN that they are all in stable condition and some are expected to be released from the hospital in one week or two.

Tian Huaqing, an employee of the plant, receives treatment in a local hospital. He is the most injured of the surviving workers. /CGTN Photo

What also concerns the public now is how the accident will impact the environment, as the plant specializes in manufacturing some chemical intermediates that are mainly used in pharmaceutical products. Local environmental authorities say they are closely monitoring the air and water quality, which has not been affected so far as the results show.

In fact, the plant, a trio three-story structures, stands close to the Yangtze River that flows through the county, raising concerns that the country’s longest river would be polluted once chemicals from the disaster leak into it.

“We’ll take measures such as building impounding pools to collect the sewage during the cleanup of the accident site to ensure that no pollutants are discharged into the Yangtze River,” Wang Lin, chief of the county’s environmental protection bureau, told CGTN.

Wang also revealed that in fact, the project’s pollutant disposal facilities also have yet to be inspected and approved by authorities.

In recent year, China has stepped up efforts to improve workplace safety standards and reinforce regular inspections across the county to eliminate potential hazards in plants producing dangerous materials in the wake of some major incidents. Sporadic incidents recently still sound the alarm to related authorities.

Now, besides the investigators, nobody can get access to the site of the accident as the whole industrial park has been cordoned off “to protect evidence”. Before late Friday, reporters could enter parts where the plant was almost completely destroyed and broken glass scattered everywhere.

Broken glass scattered everywhere in the plant. /CGTN Photo

The county government said the families of the victims will be compensated. People in charge of the company are currently being interrogated.

(Top picture: The trio three-story plant was almost destroyed in the blast and fire. The disaster caused 19 deaths and 12 injuries. /CGTN Photo)

(Li Yang and Bai Xinglong contributed to this story)