Police are anxious to trace the hospital administrator who
allegedly kept explosives in a store which may have caused an
explosion killing 31 people in Shanxi on Monday.
According to police, large quantities of detonators and fuses
have been found at the site of the explosion. .
They said it was possible that explosives were stored in the
basement of a two-storey building with a garage on the first floor
and 17 accommodation rooms on the second. .
Initial investigations discovered that Wang Jinsheng, an
administrative officer at Xuangang Coal and Electricity Company
staff hospital, who previously worked in private coalmines, had
moved dozens of boxes into the garage 10 days before the blast.
Wang held the keys to the garage and disappeared at the time of
the blast. Police have issued a nationwide arrest warrant for him.
However, the actual cause of the blast has yet to be officially
confirmed and is still under investigation.
The explosion happened at about 2:25 AM on Monday and rescue
teams completed their work on Wednesday afternoon after recovering
31 bodies.
Patients at the hospital, many who were injured, were
transferred to Yuanping People's Hospital and Yuanping Railway
Hospital.
The explosion destroyed the two-storey building and several
small houses nearby. It damaged buildings within a one-kilometer
radius causing serious damage to a five-storey medical staff
building.?
Many of the 200 villagers living nearby were also injured, said
a rescue team member.
(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2006)