An explosion at a private firecracker factory in Tangshan resulted in 2 deaths

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An explosion occurred at a private firecracker factory in Tangshan, resulting in 2 deaths. At noon on the 24th, an explosion took place at a private firecracker factory in Fengrun District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province. The People’s Government of Fengrun District announced that as of 4 p.m. on the day of the incident, the accident had resulted in 2 deaths, and the suspect has been brought under police control. On the afternoon of the 24th, a netizen posted on Weibo that an explosion had occurred in Yanzihe Village, Baiguantun Town, Fengrun District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province. Thick smoke filled the area, large craters appeared on the ground, and severed limbs were found. Videos from the scene that have been circulated online show thick smoke rising behind several rows of bungalows; all the buildings at the site had collapsed, and a large crater with a diameter of several meters had formed in the ground. The area was in complete chaos, with a man lying outside the window of one of the houses. According to a local villager, he was eating at home before the incident when he suddenly heard a loud explosion; afterwards, he saw thick smoke rising about seven or eight hundred meters away from his house. Subsequently, the villagers rushed to the scene and saw that the glass in the houses within about 100 meters of the incident site had been almost completely shattered, and nearly all the houses in that area had collapsed. Police officers, firefighters, and paramedics arrived at the accident scene one after another. According to another villager, the factory that exploded was a private firecracker manufacturer that began producing firecrackers around August this year, and it seems that the workers there were all from the village. On the afternoon of the 24th, the People’s Government of Fengrun District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, announced that around 13:00 on the 24th, an explosion occurred in Yanzihe Village, Baiguantun Town, Fengrun District. It has been preliminarily determined that this was a criminal incident caused by the accidental explosion of fireworks and firecrackers kept in private by an individual. As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the accident had resulted in 2 deaths; the suspect has been brought under police control, and the case is being investigated with full intensity. Last night, a staff member from the Publicity Department of the Fengrun District Party Committee told reporters that rescue efforts were still in progress, and the relevant authorities were still investigating whether the private firecracker factory had the necessary production licenses and how many workers were on site at the time of the incident.