Steel Factory Gas Leak Kills 10, Injures 7 in Eastern China

Steel Factory Gas Leak Kills 10, Injures 7 in Eastern China

At least ten people have been killed and seven more injured following a gas leak at a steel parts factory in Eastern China on Sunday. According to officials in Shandong province, the carbon monoxide gas leak is the latest deadly industrial accident to hit China.

The BBC News reported that the leak, which occurred on Saturday, poisoned 17 people, among them five died immediately. Zouping County government said on its official microblog that later on Sunday, five more died. The cause of the leak is still under investigation.

From satelitte images of the site, a factory next to warehouses is seen. Also, low-rise residential homes are displayed in a village about 40 miles east of Jinan, Shandong provincial capital.

The deadly industrial accident comes amid heightened sensitivity toward work safety in China after a huge chemical blast in Tianjin earlier this year that killed at least 140 people and left the port city in smoldering ruins. Authorities are still under pressure to improve safety practices and regulations, Abc News reported.

According to the AP, top officials have called for improving safety regulations and conducting nationwide verifications in the aftermath of the August 12 Tianjin explosion. Meanwhile, a string of fatal accidents across China continues.

Since September, a Hong Kong-based non-profit company China labor Bulletin has recorded more than 100 separate incidents of deadly accidents among them a chemical plant blast that killed 13 and injured 25 in Shandong province.

Also, a court in the coastal city of Qingdao on Monday sentenced eight Sinopec executives and former officials to prison terms of up to eight years in connection with a 2013 pipeline explosion that killed 63 people in coast city