A woman walks through a rubble-strewn street on Friday in Huangdao district, Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province after explosions caused by a leaky pipeline ripped roads apart and turned cars over. Photo: IC

 

At least 35 people were killed and 166 injured after a leaking oil pipeline caught fire and exploded on Friday morning in the coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong Province, local authorities said.

Among the injured, 65 are serious, according to a statement released Friday night after a Qingdao government press conference.

The force of the blast ripped roads apart, turning cars over and sending thick black smoke billowing over the city.

TFhe accident happened around 10:30 am in Huangdao district. Workers had come to repair the pipeline after it began leaking at around 3 am, according to the Qingdao government's press office.

The cause of the explosion was due to oil leaked from the pipeline into the municipal pipe network, according to an initial investigation by the rescue headquarters at the scene.

Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday called for maximum effort in the search for survivors, demanding local authorities spare no effort in rescuing the injured and strengthening safety to eradicate such incidents.

Premier Li Keqiang also urged local authorities to improve inspection and supervision and make sure safety procedures are followed.

The 176-kilometer pipeline, which links oil depots in Huangdao to Weifang, a city also in Shandong and the location of several petrochemical plants, is owned by Sinopec, China's largest oil refiner.

"I heard several loud bangs from Lidong Chemical Company and then I saw black smoke rise. We didn't know what happened and people were running away when the fire trucks arrived with sirens blaring," a witness called bigboyLEO said at his Sina Weibo account, adding that people were running for their life in panic and the power had been cut off in the following hours.

About 1,000 square meters of road surface was covered in leaked oil at Zhaitangdao Road. Some of the oil had spilled into Jiaozhou Bay through the rainwater pipeline, and about 3,000 square meters of sea water was polluted by oil, said the rescue headquarters.

Pieces of cement and debris were scattered around the explosion site, which is close to the sea.

While sources with the city's maritime safety administration claimed they had not received any report on blast-related marine pollution so far, they have strengthened patrolling around the coastal areas close to the blast site.

Meanwhile, a picture taken by a flight passenger Friday morning and reposted many times online showed a big black mushroom cloud caused by the blast. 

Students from nearby schools and local residents have been evacuated and given masks.

"I have only seen this in disaster films," said a rescuer surnamed Xue, who drove past the streets where the blast happened, adding that he was astonished by the sight of a bus sandwiched between huge cracks in the street with passengers trapped inside.

A hospital employee, who refused to be named, from Qingdao's Huangdao Hospital, told the Global Times that nearly 160 wounded people were sent to three different hospitals for urgent treatment while his hospital had accepted more than half.

"Three seriously injured people have died in our hospital so far and the rest of the patients are all being taken care of," this employee said.

Photographs posted on Sina Weibo showed the blast caused a large trench in the ground and that car windows nearby were cracked by the force of the explosion.

Environmental monitoring shows that the concentration of toxic materials in the air is within national standards. The local government has told citizens to stay calm.

Huangdao district is connected to the city by the Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge. Xinhua reports said the exit on the bridge leading to Huangdao has been temporarily closed and only emergency vehicles are allowed to enter.

Qingdao is one of China's largest crude oil import terminals, supplying at least two major Sinopec refineries - the Qingdao plant and Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Corp - as well as many small, independent refineries.

On August 12, 1989, another deadly explosion took place in Huangdao district after an oil tank was hit by lightning, according to news portal people.com.cn. A total of 19 firefighters died trying to put out the fire.

Agencies contributed to this story