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Five killed in chemical plant blast in China

At least five people were killed, 18 injured and many houses damaged in a powerful blast at a chemical factory in north China's Hebei Province, an official said on Saturday.

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BEIJING: At least five people were killed, 18 injured and many houses damaged in a powerful blast at a chemical factory in north China's Hebei Province, an official said on Saturday.

Eighteen people are receiving treatment in local hospitals, including 14 people with serious injuries, a spokeswoman for the Cangzhou city government, Li Li said.

An earlier report said three people were killed and 105 people injured in the blast.

The blast occurred at 1:40 pm on Friday at a workshop in Cangzhou Dahua TDI Co. Ltd., the provincial work safety bureau said.

The blast also damaged most of the houses in the nearby Dazidian village some 200 meters away, which is inhabited by about 4,000 people.

"Cracks measuring one to two centimetres wide are seen on the walls of 80 per cent of the houses in the village, and some of the villagers were injured by flying window glasses, but no house has collapsed," an official in the village said.

"I thought it was an earthquake when the house shook and dashed out of it as quickly as possible. There was something like the snowflakes in the air which I learnt later was industrial foams from the explosion," the villager, surnamed Zhao recalled.

Fearing possible toxic gas leak, more than 2,000 residents in the village were initially evacuated but returned to their homes by on Saturday.

The blast in the nitration workshop section led to a fire in the toluene supply slot.

The company is one of the major TDI producers in China.

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