Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies),
- The provisional
toll from a devastating fire that
erupted this morning in a poultry
processing plant in Dehui Jilin Province (North East China) is at least 55 dead and 41 wounded.
According to local media,
the firefighters are still struggling to
put out the flames. At the time of the tragedy about 300 people were at work. The Baoyuan plant is among the largest
in the area and employs over 1200
workers.
Some witnesses claim that the flames were preceded by three loud explosions, perhaps
because of a short circuit in the
control panel of one of the sheds.
Many people were trapped inside the structure which has narrow corridors and no
emergency exits.
The first images of the tragedy have
already begun appearing on the internet. They show thick
smoke coming from the structures
of concrete and steel, built with toxic materials. To
avoid poisoning, the police created
a one kilometer security cordon around the structure.
The Dehui incident one again raises the question of compliance with
safety standards of Chinese companies. The most serious cases are mainly in the
mining sector that holds the record for victims with about 20 thousand deaths
per year.