BEIJING – The death toll of a violent explosion at a Kunshan metallurgical plant, Shanghai’s satellite city, which is about fifteen kilometers away, in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, is at least 68 dead and about one hundred and fifty wounded. According to the official news agency ‘Xinhua’, two executives of the plant, belonging to the ‘Zhongrong’ company that produces car parts for the giants of the American industry in the sector, have already been arrested for multiple manslaughter.

The deflagration, so powerful as to break down the windows of the buildings in a radius of over 500 meters, would have been caused by the accidental ignition of a blowtorch, or in any case by an unusually high temperature, in a room saturated with filings deriving from polishing of metal components, which triggered a sudden chemical-physical reaction.