【Accident Information】3 deaths from oxygen deficiency at a chemical plant in Hubei; the plant had previously been at odds with local villagers over pollution issues

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On November 14, the official website of Zhongxiang City in Hubei Province, the Zhongxiang News Network, issued a report stating that on the afternoon of the 13th, an accident occurred at Hubei Zhongxiang Dasheng Chemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Dasheng Chemical”). Three fitters working at the company’s sulfuric acid plant fainted inside the desulfurization tower while carrying out maintenance work due to lack of oxygen; all three died despite attempts to save them. According to local villagers who spoke to The Paper (www.thepaper.cn), the victim was from Liuchong Village in Phosphorus Mine Town, where the chemical plant is located. An aunt of one of the deceased told The Paper that her nephew, Liu Ming (a pseudonym), was 27 years old and had worked at the chemical plant (i.e., Dasheng Chemical) for three to four years. At around 8 p.m. on November 13, the family received a notification from the chemical plant stating that Liu Ming had died from sulfur dioxide poisoning. There are two other deceased persons, Gao and Shi, both around 40 years old and local residents. Currently, the bodies of all three are at a local funeral home. The aforementioned report states that on the afternoon of November 13, 2016, an accident occurred at Dasheng Chemical Co., Ltd. in Zhongxiang City, resulting in 3 deaths. At around 17:30 on that day, three fitters from the company’s sulfuric acid plant went to the desulfurization tower area to carry out maintenance work. They fainted inside the tower due to lack of oxygen, and were discovered by an operator on duty at the desulfurization station during his routine inspection. The report stated that after the accident, doctors from the community where the company is located as well as doctors from Zhongxiang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital rushed to the scene to provide emergency treatment ； Zhongxiang City immediately activated its emergency response plan; the city’s ** authorities, along with departments such as the Work Safety Supervision Bureau, Public Security Bureau, and the ** authorities of Linkuang Town, sent personnel to the scene as soon as possible to carry out rescue and handling efforts. Three people died at around 18:40 despite all efforts to save them. At present, the cause of the accident is under further investigation, and remedial actions are being carried out in an orderly manner. Dasheng Chemical Co., Ltd. has faced repeated complaints from villagers over pollution issues, and it came to public attention earlier due to the cases of Wei Kaizu and Yu Dinghai. According to a report in \"Rule of Law Weekend\" dated April 29, 2013, Wei Kaizu and Yu Dinghai, villagers from LiuChong Village, had multiple conflicts with Dasheng Chemical Industry after believing that the pigs they raised and the trees they planted died as a result of pollution by this company; they also reported the situation at various levels. In August 2011, the two individuals received compensation of 1.24 million yuan and 350,000 yuan from Dasheng Chemical respectively. More than a year later, in September and October 2012, Wei Kaizu and Yu Dinghai were respectively placed under criminal detention by the local public security authorities on suspicion of extortion. On August 4 this year, The Paper published an article titled \"Agreed compensation turns into extortion: Hubei man held illegally for 330 days seeks compensation\", covering this incident. Wei Kaizu was detained in the No. 1 Detention Center of Zhongxiang City for 330 days, until August 2013 when the prosecution withdrew the charges and he was released on bail. After the period of bail pending trial expired, the prosecution neither refiled charges nor decided not to prosecute. Wei Kaizu began applying for compensation in 2015, but his requests were rejected by the Jingmen Intermediate People’s Court. On July 11, 2016, the Hubei High Court issued a decision to revoke the rejection decision made by the Jingmen Intermediate Court, and ordered its compensation committee to re-examine Wei Kaizu’s application for **compensation.