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35 killed in China oil pipeline explosion

illusion8

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Around 28,000 people were killed or went missing in workplace accidents in the first half of this year, according to state media. :eek:

BEIJING: An oil pipeline exploded on Friday in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao killing 35 people, the government said, the latest accident in a country blighted by a poor industrial safety record.

The force of the blast ripped roads apart, turning cars over and sending thick black smoke billowing over the city, pictures showed.

One pedestrian had a leg blown off and another man's head was crushed under a piece of concrete debris.

The pipeline, run by state-owned oil giant Sinopec, sprang a leak early Friday and exploded several hours later as workers sought to repair it, the Qingdao municipal government said in its verified account on SinaWeibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

A total of 35 people were killed, it said, while 166 were injured. Among those, 57 were seriously hurt and eight people were deemed to be in danger of dying, it said.

The exact cause of the leak was under investigation. The disaster spurred Chinese President Xi Jinping to urge authorities to do all they can to find survivors, state media reported.

The official Xinhua news agency said that he asked for "maximum effort" towards that end and also requested officials to rescue those hurt and beef up safety to prevent the occurrence of such incidents.

Xinhua also said that Premier Li Keqiang called on local authorities to ensure the following of safety procedures.

It also said that a team led by Wang Yong, a member of the State Council, China's cabinet, had been sent to the scene to lead rescue efforts.

The explosion site in the eastern province of Shandong is close to the coast and barriers had been set up to stop oil leaking into the sea, the Qingdao government said.

But Xinhua, citing rescuers, reported that some oil had leaked into Jiaozhou Bay through a rainwater pipeline, with about 3,000 square metres (3,229 square feet) of sea water being contaminated with fires and explosions on the waters at the bay's entrance.

Xinhua said its reporters observed cracks in streets as long as 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mile).

"I have only seen this in disaster films," said a rescue worker surnamed Xue, according to Xinhua.

Xue said he saw a bus stuck between large cracks in the street and that passengers were trapped inside.

China has a very poor record on industrial safety as lax law enforcement and corruption enables business owners to cut corners or offer bribes to evade standards.

Around 28,000 people were killed or went missing in workplace accidents in the first half of this year, according to state media.

35 killed in China oil pipeline explosion - The Times of India
 
I never know the number of 28,000 people from the local media nor from Taiwan and HK, where did they get the source?
 
I never know the number of 28,000 people from the local media nor from Taiwan and HK, where did they get the source?

28,000 may seem a lot but in the whole scale of things its actually not alot. The International Labour Organisation estimates around 2.3 million death world wide from workplaces accidents and related diseases, of which people from asia accounted for 1.1 million of them.

Naturally work place related death will be higher in China because of the sheer size of the industries, construction and mining. When compared to less advanced economies with little heavy industries, their work related death will be related to easily avoidable things such as lack of safety equipment, exposure to asbestos, long term diseases which almost is under-reported.
 
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Last year we had 1,007,864 cases of work related accidents of which 664 were fatal, the lowest record since 1960 when the Federal Statistic Office started to collect data on workplace accidents.

If we extrapolate the German figures (80 million) to the population of China (1.3 billion), China has almost three times the amount of fatal work accidents than Germany, which is unacceptably high.

:butcher:
 
28,000 may seem a lot but in the whole scale of things its actually not alot. The International Labour Organisation estimates around 2.3 million death world wide from workplaces accidents and related diseases, of which people from asia accounted for 1.1 million of them.

Naturally work place related death will be higher in China because of the sheer size of the industries, construction and mining. When compared to less advanced economies with little heavy industries, their work related death will be related to easily avoidable things such as lack of safety equipment, exposure to asbestos, long term diseases which almost is under-reported.

Even so the number is still too high. I can accept 14,000.
 
Considering there are nearly 1 billion workers in China, 28,000 work related death doesn't seem that outrageous. Even here in my province in Canada, about 250 workers die every single year, out of 4 million population.
 
China's safety record is shocking it seems to be profit over human lives and the govt seems to have little care.
 
Considering there are nearly 1 billion workers in China, 28,000 work related death doesn't seem that outrageous. Even here in my province in Canada, about 250 workers die every single year, out of 4 million population.

Around 28,000 people were killed or went missing in workplace accidents in the first half of this year, according to state media.

28,000 in the first 6 months - that means the figures probably double - around 50,000+ every year.
 
Our safety record is probably the worst in the world. Many school children die from bus crashes as buses as overloaded and drivers are not very good.

Workplace safety is absolutely shocking too.
 
28,000 in the first 6 months - that means the figures probably double - around 50,000+ every year.
While that is a little high, it's still not ridiculous. Total work related death is 0.0006%.
 
Yeah as with most places in the world is less valuable than money. The only thing that changes between countries is the amount of money.

@Chinese members. What are the regulations/etc for workers in terms of OH&S in worksites? High-vis jackets, steel capped boots etc
 
Condolences to families and friends of all who are affected... very sad incident.
 
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