An explosion killed 65 in China

An explosion killed 65 people Saturday as it ripped through a factory in eastern China, state media said, injuring 150 in what appeared to be an industrial accident. The blast in Kunshan, a city in the eastern province of Jiangsu near Shanghai, “has resulted in 65 deaths”, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said, citing official sources. The explosion occurred Saturday morning at a factory which is involved in the production of car parts for US automotive companies, including General Motors, state media said. “We heard the explosion and we were all shocked,” a security guard from a nearby factory who declined to be named told AFP. He said the blast occurred as workers were changing shifts, resulting in higher casualties. Graphic photographs posted online showed a charred body being wheeled on a stretcher, and people with burned clothing sitting on the ground outside a factory complex that was billowing black smoke. Preliminary investigations show that the blast was caused by dust produced as workers polished metal meeting with high temperatures or an open flame, China’s ministry of public security said on a verified microblogging account. More than 150 people were injured when a “powerful blast ripped through” the factory, beginning at a wheel hub polishing workshop, China’s official Xinhua news agency said. “The scene is a mess, it’s unrecognisable,” a witness at the scene wrote on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter. - Industrial accidents common -