Gas Incident in Southern China Results in 7 Fatalities

At least seven people have died and four others were injured in a gas poisoning incident at a biotechnology company in eastern China.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, officials reported that the accident occurred on Saturday afternoon at the Weifang Jinshi company in Shandong province.

Local authorities stated that rescue workers were dispatched to the scene of the incident and that investigations are ongoing, according to the agency.

The local emergency management department in the city of Shouguang, located about 380 kilometers southeast of the capital Beijing, said that the injured were “in stable condition,” according to the Chinese agency.

Accidents in industrial facilities are common in China, often due to insufficient training on safety procedures and lax enforcement. In January, at least eight people were killed in an explosion at a factory in Jiangsu province in eastern China, according to official media.

In May of last year, nine people died following an explosion at a hydrogen peroxide production plant in Liaocheng, also located in Shandong province, where Saturday’s gas poisoning incident occurred.