At least 20
workers have been killed in a blast as they were working on a new road tunnel in
China’s Hunan province. State media says the accident happened while
explosives were being unloaded from a vehicle. Another four workers were pulled out of the
tunnel alive.
The country is
often criticised for poor safety standards.
Last November, three vehicles carrying explosives caught fire and blew
up in south-western China, killing at least seven people and injuring about
200.
Perhaps the
deadliest ever incident involving the transporting of explosives happened at
Cali in Colombia in 1956. A convoy
of seven army lorries loaded with dynamite had been parked outside a barracks
on the night of August 6, and in the early hours of the next morning, an
explosion ripped through them.
It flattened the
barracks and eight blocks of buildings, killing at least 1,300 people. The cause was never clearly established. At first, the military government said it
was sabotage, but others thought it was an accident perhaps caused by the
trucks overheating.
