Explosion death toll rises to 43 in China's Shanxi

Forty-three people were killed and 28 more injured early on Friday in an explosive blast in Ningwu County, north China's Shanxi Province.

The explosion took place around 6:30 a.m. in a villager's home in Dongzhai Village, Dongzhai Township, local police sources confirmed.

Zhang Baoshun, secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), demanded that all out efforts be made to rescue the injured, and responsible persons be punished according to law.

Ningwu County, administered by Xinzhou City, takes a bus ride of more than four hours to reach from Taiyuan, the provincial capital.

Party and government authorities of Ningwu and Xinzhou have rushed to the spot to oversee the rescue work.

Ningwu was not the first time shattered by this fatal blast. In July 2 last year, a gas explosion at the Jiajiabao Coal Mine in Ningwu killed 36 people and injured 11. The mine's owner hid the bodies of 17 dead miners after explosion to evade punishment.

With vast coal reserves, Shanxi Province, commonly known as "sea of coal, is the biggest coal producer in China. However, legions of fatal accidents occur in the province each year, and tragedies caused by illegal storage of explosives used for mining.

A similar bloody explosive explosion occurred in Yuanping City of the province in April this year. More than three tons of explosives illegally hidden in the garage of the staff hospital affiliated to the Xuangang Coal and Electricity Company detonated, killing 34 people.

In June this year, 10 people were killed when privately stored explosives went off in a residential building in Fanshi County of Shanxi Province.

Cause of Friday's explosion is under investigation.

Source: Xinhua