Amid the frenzied pace that Chinese contractors are building power plants in and out of the country, an industrial accident hit a power plant project on Thursday in Jiangxi Province. The collapse of a platform under construction in Fengcheng killed 74 people and injured two workers.
Initial reports say 67 people were killed, but China Daily said the number went up to 74. A tower crane collapse caused the entire platform to collapse at the ongoing Fengcheng Power Plant cooling tower project in Yichun. The accident occurred while morning shift workers were relieving night shift employees.
Fengcheng authorities deployed over 500 rescuers to the accident site to help find trapped workers and provide medical and other needed assistance to them. In September, Jiangxi Ganneng launched a 100-day campaign to rush the construction of two 1-million-kilowatt coal-fired power units at the facility. Construction work started in July 2015 and targets to be completed by early 2018.
But construction of the cooling tower started earlier in April. Upon completion, the tower would stand 160 meters high. So far, 70 percent of the project has been built.
The power plant is owned by Jiangxi Ganneng whose shares dipped 3.7 percent on news of the accident. The contractor suspended on the same day trading of its shares but said the suspension would be lifted on Friday, Reuters reported.
The two injured workers were brought to a hospital in Fengcheng after the platform collapsed at about 7 a.m. Rescuers found and helped one trapped worker in the rubble.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ordered a probe on the accident and sought accountability for people responsible for the accident which are quite common in China due to lax implementation of construction regulations. Chinese President Xi Jinping asked local authorities to expedite finding, rescuing and treating victims and to make follow-ups on the accident.