Death toll in China’s factory blast rises to 29

Death toll in China’s factory blast rises to 29

The death toll after an explosives factory blast in eastern China rose Tuesday to 29 from 20, the government said.

Local officials in Shandong provinces Zhaoyuan city confirmed that nine people missing since the blast Saturday at the 761 Explosive Co. Ltd. were dead, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It did not say whether the bodies had been recovered.

Investigators were still trying to determine what caused the explosion which tore through a factory workshop and knocked down trees up to 20 meters (65 feet) away, Xinhua said.

Twenty people were confirmed dead directly after the accident and two were hospitalized in stable condition.

The private factory in Zhaoyuan employs some 600 people and prepares explosives for use in nearby gold mines, reports the AP.

I.L.