China chemical plant explosion leaves at least 5 dead

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At least five are dead and six are missing Tuesday following a massive explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China.

Videos captured in the wake of the blast at the Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co. facility in Weifang showed huge columns of smoke rising into the sky. 

The blast was powerful enough to knock out windows at a warehouse more than two miles away, according to the Associated Press.

A student at a school about 1,000 yards away from the plant told state-run news site The Paper that he heard one explosion and saw dirt-yellow smoke, tainted with redness, rising from the plant. He said there was a funny smell, and all students were given a mask and told not to remove it. 

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The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. 

At least five people were dead and 19 were injured, local emergency management authorities said. 

Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co. manufactures pesticides as well as chemicals for medical use, and has more than 500 employees, according to corporate registration records. 

More than 230 first responders went to the site of the blast. 

The incident took place less than two weeks after the National Ministry of Emergency Management held a workshop on preventing and controlling risks in the chemical industry, as Beijing urged officials at chemical industrial parks to boost their capabilities in "managing hazardous chemicals." 

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Last year, the chemical plant was cited for "safety risks" at least twice, but in September it was praised by the Weifang Emergency Management Bureau for resolving those matters. 

Officials at the plant identified more than 800 safety hazards in the first eight months of 2024 and rectified all of them, the bureau said, according to the AP. 

A warehouse complex storing large amounts of hazardous chemicals caught fire and exploded in Tianjin in 2015, leaving 173 dead or missing. 

In 2019, 78 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant in Yancheng in China's eastern coastal province of Jiangsu. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.