China pipeline blast:

Six dead, over 300 hurt

CHINA: At least six died and more than 300 others were injured an explosion when a chemical pipeline ignited in eastern China Wednesday, state media reported.

The blast occurred in the city of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, at about 10 am China National Radio said on its website.

It said a pipeline carrying ethylene blew up on the grounds of an abandoned plastics factory.

The official Xinhua news agency said its reporters had seen six people recorded as dead at hospitals treating the injured.

More than 300 people, including 52 with serious injuries, had been rushed to local hospitals for treatment, the China News Service said.

Authorities were still trying to determine the total number of casualties from the blast, which blew out windows in buildings up to 300 metres (yards) away, reports said.

“There are dozens of injured in our hospital. Their situations are not serious, most of them suffered burns,” said a doctor at the city’s Zhongda hospital, who refused to identify herself.

“Nobody has died in our hospital. There are injured people in every big hospital in Nanjing.”

Many hospitals had almost exhausted their blood stocks and local residents were rushing to mobile collection vehicles to donate blood, Xinhua said.

It said a fire that broke out at the scene following the blast had been put out. BEIJING, Wednesday, AFP