An explosion at a fireworks factory in the Chinese province of Hunan, in the south of the country, has caused at least 21 deaths and 61 injuries, according to the latest report released this Tuesday by the state news agency Xinhua. The accident occurred on Monday afternoon in a workshop of the Huasheng fireworks manufacturing and display company, located in Liuyang county, considered the heart of China’s pyrotechnics industry. The Asian giant exported fireworks worth around 990 million euros last year, according to data from the Economic Complexity Observatory cited by Reuters.
The explosion was recorded at 4:43 p.m. (local time, six hours less in mainland Spain) on Monday, although the news did not emerge until the evening. The first official information spoke of three dead and 25 injured, but, after completing a first round of search early on Tuesday, the authorities have raised the toll. State television, CCTV, reports that the injured have been taken to two hospitals for emergency treatment. The oldest is 68 years old and the youngest are in their twenties. The majority have bone injuries, according to the public channel.
Rescue teams continue to inspect the site at noon this Tuesday, in an especially delicate operation due to the risk of new explosions. The authorities have delimited a three-kilometer control area around the complex, after detecting two black powder warehouses that are considered high risk.
Xinhua reports that the police have taken “control measures” against the person responsible for the company involved, a formula that in the language of the state press usually indicates that the person is in custody or subject to restrictions while the investigation progresses. The news agency adds that investigations into the causes of the accident and subsequent management efforts are still underway.
The Hunan provincial government activated the emergency plan shortly after the detonation occurred, according to official media. Xinhua reports that five rescue teams, with 482 personnel, were mobilized to locate survivors, evacuate the population from risk areas and contain the risks of a new detonation inside the factory. The Ministry of Emergency Management has also sent experts to direct work on the ground, and three robots have been deployed to search the premises alongside human teams.
Images broadcast by state media show damaged buildings and smoking facilities, and emergency teams working during the early hours of the morning.
“I heard a bang, I ran out and saw a mushroom cloud. When the explosion occurred, the house shook. The glass in the doors and windows on the ground floor shattered,” a resident of the village of Binghe who asked not to be identified told Chinanews, according to that medium. Her husband worked in the damaged company as a transporter. “I had to call him four times until he answered. Half stunned, he told me that the factory had exploded,” reports Chinanews. According to her testimony, her husband, who is now hospitalized, managed to crawl out. He has wounds on his back, head, arms and face.
Although the cause of the explosion has not yet been determined, the case has quickly escalated to the highest political level. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the search for missing persons to be accelerated, care for the injured, clarification of what happened and has demanded “strict accountability.”
The tragedy reopens an old debate in the Asian giant: the tension between a traditional, lucrative industry closely linked to local identity, and the persistent safety problems in the production of explosive material. The economic media Caixin recalls that the company involved had already been sanctioned this year for security deficiencies. According to public records cited by Chinese media, the company was fined 15,000 yuan (about 1,800 euros) in February for irregularities related to the storage of incompatible chemicals.
Liuyang, a county administered by Changsha City, the provincial capital, is known for the production of fireworks and firecrackers. A report from People’s Daily published last year stated that Liuyang was home to 431 fireworks and firecracker production companies, that the local industry reached a production value of 50.22 billion yuan (about 6.1 billion euros) in 2024 and that it represented around 60% of the national market and close to 70% of Chinese exports in the sector. The town had already been the scene of serious accidents. In December 2019, another explosion at a similar factory caused 13 deaths and 13 injuries. Local authorities initially reported seven deaths and the case led to sanctions and disciplinary measures against 29 officials for concealment of victims and supervisory deficiencies, in addition to criminal measures against those responsible for the firm.
