The State Council Work Safety Commission has announced it will directly supervise the investigation into a catastrophic industrial explosion at a steel plant in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The blast occurred at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday at a production facility operated by Baogang United Steel located in western Baotou City.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, the incident has resulted in a significant casualty count with two confirmed fatalities and eight individuals remaining unaccounted for as of 6:00 AM Monday. Additionally, 84 people have been hospitalized with injuries of varying severity following the industrial accident.
The ministry has issued directives emphasizing the critical importance of implementing scientifically sound search and rescue protocols to prevent secondary disasters while maximizing efforts to locate missing personnel. Emergency response teams have been instructed to provide comprehensive medical care to all injured victims with the objective of minimizing further loss of life.
Authorities have stressed the urgency of determining the precise cause of the explosion through thorough investigation. The ministry further emphasized the necessity of deriving substantive lessons from this tragedy to enhance safety protocols and prevent similar industrial accidents from occurring in the future.
Specialized rescue units from the Ministry of Emergency Management have been deployed to the incident site to assist local emergency response teams with the ongoing operations.