China unveils report on deadly pipeline blast

BEIJING - China's top work safety watchdog on Saturday unveiled a full investigation report on a fatal pipeline blast that claimed 62 lives in the eastern city of Qingdao on November 22.

A dog stands in front of an overturned vehicle near the site of an explostion in Huangdao District in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, Nov 22, 2013. The blast happened after a leaking pipeliine caught fire. [Photo/icpress.cn]

The direct reason for the accident was repair staffs' drilling operations that produced sparks and caused an explosion fuelled by oil leaked from a pipeline owned by a subsidiary of Sinopec, the country's largest oil refiner, according to the investigation report.

The blast killed 62 people, injured another 136 and caused a direct economic loss of 751.72 million yuan (about $123 million), according to the report, which was compiled by a special investigation group set up by the State Council, or the Cabinet.

A total of 63 people will be penalized, with 48 of them to receive punishments for violating Party and administrative disciplines and 15 others having been transferred to judicial organs for their alleged crimes, the report said.

It urged related companies and local authorities to learn lessons from the accident and stick to the path of safe development.

The country should decisively rectify the mechanism of evaluating government officials merely by economic growth rates and raise the weight of work safety in the evaluation of officials, it added.

The report also suggested thorough inspections of potential safety hazards, enhanced government supervision on pipeline safety, scientific city planning and improvements to emergency response mechanisms.

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