75 Tewas Akibat Pabrik Onderdil Mobil di China Meledak
Death Toll Rises to 75 in Chinese Factory Blast
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
Beijing (B2B) - Jumlah korban tewas akibat sebuah ledakan di sebuah pabrik suku cadang mobil Cina meningkat menjadi 75 orang, penyelidikan menyimpulkan sistem pengamanan yang buruk dan keluhan pekerja tentang tingkat polusi akibat debu di pabrik tersebut.
Debu dari logam akibat aktivitas memoles dop roda baja, Sabtu pagi, di pabrik yang berada di kota Kunshan di timur China menyebabkan ledakan yang menghancurkan hampir seluruh atap pabrik, kata pejabat setempat. Lebih dari 200 pekerja berada di pabrik pada saat ledakan terjadi, yang dinyatakan sebagai bencana industri paling serius di China sejak kebakaran di pabrik unggas yang menewaskan 119 orang pada Juni tahun lalu, seperti dilansir MailOnline.
Debu logam menempel di kulit para pekerja, mengakibatkan luka bakar 50% sampai 90%, kata Liu Wei, wakil kepala biro kesehatan setempat, yang berada di provinsi Jiangsu, sekitar 1.000 kilometer (600 mil) di tenggara Beijing.
Ledakan itu menewaskan 75 orang, sekitar 25 korban meninggal di rumah sakit, kata media pemerintah. Ditambah 186 pekerja yang terluka, sebagian besar menderita luka bakar serius.
Hasil rekaman CCTV yang disiarkan stasiun tv lokal memperlihatkan asap tebal, hitam mengepul dari pabrik, dan media online mengunggah foto dari korban tewas atau terluka diangkut truk, tubuh mereka tampak gosong, diperkirakan akibat luka bakar atau debu pabrik.
Penyelidikan awal menunjukkan bahwa ledakan itu kemungkinan berasal dari ledakan debu, kata kantor berita resmi China Xinhua News Agency. Koran China melaporkan bahwa para pekerja di pabrik mengeluh selama beberapa tahun terakhir tentang tingginya lapisan debu di meja kerja mereka, dan ventilasi yang buruk di pabrik tersebut.
Ledakan serupa juga terjadi pada kebakaran mematikan lainnya di China. Pada 2012, sebuah ledakan di pabrik kunci aluminium di timur kota Wenzhou menewaskan 13 orang dan melukai 15 pekerja. Tiga tahun sebelumnya, bubuk aluminium meledak di sebuah pabrik kosong yang disewakan sebagai perumahan di timur kota Danyang, menewaskan 11 orang dan melukai 20 orang.
Pabrik yang meledak Sabtu dioperasikan oleh Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Company, yang menurut website-nya didirikan pada 1998 dan modal terdaftar $8,8 juta. Bisnis utamanya pemasok General Motors dan perusahaan otomotif lain, kata situs resmi perusahaan. Media pemerintah Cina mengatakan pabrik itu dibangun dengan investasi Taiwan.
GM menegaskan bahwa Zhongrong adalah bagian dari jaringan pemasok. "Kami dapat mengkonfirmasi Zhongrong adalah pemasok untuk pemasok global GM Dicastal," kata GM dalam sebuah pernyataan.
Polisi menahan lima eksekutif senior Zhongrong untuk mendukung kegiatan penyelidikan, kata para pejabat, tanpa memberikan rincian.
Beijing - The death toll in for an explosion at a Chinese auto parts factory has risen to 75 people, as investigators fault poor safety measures and news reports reveal that workers had long complained of dangerous levels of dust at the facility.
Metal dust produced from polishing steel hubcaps ignited Saturday morning at the factory in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, causing an explosion that destroyed almost the entire roof of the plant, city officials said. More than 200 workers were at the factory at the time of the blast, China´s most serious industrial disaster since a fire at a poultry plant killed 119 people in June last year.
The metallic dust stuck to the skin of workers, burning between 50 and 90 percent of their bodies, said Liu Wei, deputy chief of the health bureau in the city, located in Jiangsu province, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southeast of Beijing.
The blast killed 75 people, at least 25 of them dying in hospital, state media said. An additional 186 people were injured, most with severe burns.
State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of large plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the plant, and news websites posted photos of the dead or injured lifted onto the back of large trucks, their bodies black, presumably from burns or soot.
A preliminary investigation showed that the blast was likely a dust explosion, said China´s official Xinhua News Agency. Chinese newspapers reported that workers at the factory had complained over the past years about layers of dust gathering on their work tables, and poor ventilation in the facility.
Such explosions have been blamed for other deadly fires in China. In 2012, a dust explosion at an aluminum lock polishing workshop in the eastern city of Wenzhou killed 13 people and injured 15. Three years earlier, aluminum powder exploded at an abandoned factory being rented out as temporary housing in the eastern city of Danyang, killing 11 people and injuring 20.
The factory involved in Saturday´s blast is operated by the Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Company, which according to its website was set up in 1998 and has registered capital of $8.8 million. Its core business is electroplating aluminum alloy wheel hubs, and it supplies General Motors and other companies, the website said. Chinese state media said the factory was built with Taiwanese investment.
GM confirmed that Zhongrong is part of its network of suppliers. "We can confirm Zhongrong is a supplier to GM´s global supplier Dicastal," GM said in a statement.
Police took away five senior Zhongrong executives to assist in the investigation, officials said, without providing details.
