Another Chinese factory explodes; Death toll at 7, many injured

Seven people were killed and five others injured in an explosion at a scrap metal moulding plant in eastern China on Sunday, officials said. The explosion took place in a yard outside the Kunshan Waffer Technology Corp. Ltd. in Kunshan Bonded Zone in Jiangsu Province, they said. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The incident came barely a week after one of China's worst industrial accidents in which 78 people were killed and over 600 others injured. On March 22, a powerful blast at a pesticide factory in the eastern city of Yancheng demolished a number of other factories in the industrial park. Earlier, on Friday, five people were killed in an explosion in a factory in China's Shandong Province.

The explosion took place in a workshop of a perlite factory in the city of Qingzhou. The private factory owner was held by the local police. Initial investigation showed the accident was caused by a leak in a liquefied gas tank.

Following the accidents, the Chinese government has ordered nationwide inspection of chemical industries to prevent large scale factory explosion.