Local media released footage showing the Changlian Petrochemical Plant, Gaolangang District, Chau Hai City, submerged in a giant hot air balloon after the explosion occurred at around 1:40 p.m. (local time).
No one was killed or injured in the accident, the Mail quoted the local government as saying. The fire was extinguished about 2 hours after the explosion.
The Chau Hai fire team dispatched 40 fire trucks and 200 firefighters to the scene. Firefighters in the cities of Guangzhou, foshan, Jiang Mon and Trung Son nearby provided support, CCTV reported.
The Chau Hai Disaster Management Department stressed that the explosion did not cause any changes in any environmental indicators. Local environmental officials are said to be monitoring the surrounding areas.
Chau Hai is a city with a population of 1.9 million located in the far south of Quang Dong province, bordering Ma Cao.
Industrial accidents and chemical plant explosions in China are quite common, as safety regulations are often enforced loosely.
In March last year, an explosion at a chemical plant in eastern Jiangsu Province killed 78 people and injured hundreds.
Four months later, in July 2019, a massive explosion killed 15 people at a gas plant in central China.
In November 2018, a truck carrying flammable chemicals exploded at the entrance of a chemical plant in Zhangjiakou, a northern Chinese city that will co- host the 2022 Winter Olympics, killing 23 people and injuring 22 others.
One of the worst accidents was a major explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the port city of Tianjin that killed 173 people, mostly firefighters and police. The explosion arose from illegal construction and unsafe storage of volatile materials.
