2 dead, 4 injured as northern China truck collision triggers huge chemical blast

Two people were killed and four others injured when a truck carrying ammonium nitrate collided with another vehicle and exploded on a national highway in northern China at around noon on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported. Authorities in Inner Mongolia autonomous region said the blast occurred at 11.27am on a section of National Highway 331 in Xilingol League, according to the report. Officials said a truck carrying hazardous chemicals collided with another transport vehicle, leaving two people dead and one injured. Three more people in other vehicles were injured in the blast triggered by the collision. Xinhua said all four injured had been taken to medical facilities. The local government has also set up an investigation team to look into the cause of the incident. Videos from the scene circulating on Chinese social media showed a burning vehicle suddenly exploding, with flames shooting into the sky and thick yellow smoke rising from the scene. Another video showed a section of the road destroyed, with debris from damaged vehicles scattered nearby. The person filming said the shock wave from the explosion shattered the windows of nearby vehicles. The section of road was no longer passable, Chinese outlet New Yellow River reported, citing local transport authorities. New Yellow River is a digital platform affiliated with the Jinan Daily Newspaper Group. Ammonium nitrate is an extremely dangerous chemical that is commonly used in fertiliser production and as an industrial raw material. The chemical was linked to a massive explosion in the port city of Tianjin a decade ago. In August 2015, twin blasts in Tianjin’s Binhai New Area killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers. The explosions injured nearly 800 people and triggered shock waves felt 20km (12 miles) away. The explosions were caused by improperly stored hazardous chemicals, including nitrocellulose and ammonium nitrate, in a port district warehouse. And in 2020, up to 2,750 tonnes of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate exploded at the port in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, killing 191 people and obliterating the city’s main commercial hub.