An explosion on Monday at a fireworks factory in China killed 26 people and injured at least 61, officials said.
The explosion occurred in the Hunan Province city of Liuyang, The New York Times reported. The city is considered to be the fireworks capital of the world, according to Reuters.
Video showed rescuers with searchlights looking through rubble and the windows of homes that were shattered by the explosion, according to the Times.
Reuters reported that China’s president, Xi Jinping, ordered a thorough investigation, CCTV, China’s state media outlet, reported on Tuesday.
More than 1,500 firefighters, police and first responders were sent to the scene, according to the news organization.
China Daily said the plant was operated by the Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Company, The Guardian reported.
Investigators believe the explosion originated in a workshop for assembling fireworks, CCTV reported. The report also said that people from the company that owns the factory have been placed “under control,” according to The Guardian.
Changsha mayor Chen Bozhang said at a news conference that a search-and-rescue operation at the scene has mostly been completed.
“We feel extremely pained and deeply remorseful,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
According to The Guardian, Ding Weiming, the Changsha emergency management bureau’s party secretary, said a large number of products caught fire, causing continuous blasts, Large amounts of gunpowder stored in the warehouse area threatened the safety of rescue teams. People were trapped and avenues of escape were blocked by collapsed walls, columns and the roof in the factory area, the news outlet reported.
China has had several industrial accidents through the years, the Times reported. A 2019 explosion killed 78; several weeks ago, an explosion at a chemical plant in northeastern China killed at least five people, Reuters reported.
Last year, nearly 18,300 people died in workplace accidents in China, the Times reported. That was a 7% decline from 2024, according to China’s Ministry of Emergency Management.
Liuyang has a bustling fireworks industry and employs tens of thousands of employees, the Times reported, citing a 2023 report from Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency