Chinese authorities plan to move 10 chemical facilities in the wake of a devastating explosion last summer.
The Associated Press reported that those plants were found to be located too close to residential areas. The August explosion in the port city of Tianjin killed 173 and damaged dozens of nearby homes — some of which were as little as one-third of a mile away from the blast.
Firefighters in protective gear watch as smoke continues to billow out after an explosion at a warehouse in northeastern China's Tianjin municipality. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)A subsequent report found problems at 85 of the 583 chemical firms in the Tianjin Binhai New Area.
Local labor authorities said that the other 75 plants were not located too close to residences. Eventually, however, all chemical facilities will be isolated in the Nangang industrial zone nearly 20 miles to the south and some 6 miles away from residential developments.
State media reported last month that two chemical facilities were being relocated at a cost of more than $4 billion.
A window shattered by the shockwaves frames the site of an explosion at a warehouse in northeastern China's Tianjin municipality. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)Investigators this month blamed the August explosion on dried-out material that caught fire and spread to ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which was stored illegally at warehouses owned by Ruihai International Logistics Co.
Dozens have been arrested in connection with the blast, including company officials and local authorities accused of colluding to allow the illegal chemical storage.