Illegally stored explosives blast killed five in China

by Josh Ye in South China Morning Post, Mar 30, 2017
Explosions that killed at least five people and damaged or destroyed 83 homes in northern China last week were sparked by illegally stored explosives, state media reported.
Media reports had initially suggested that the blasts on Saturday in Baotou in Inner Mongolia, which also injured 25 people, were caused by a gas pipeline explosion.
The explosives were stored in a residential block in the city, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing the local police.
Sixteen people have been detained by police investigating the accident, the report said.
The explosions collapsed the five-storey building and damaged two neighbouring ones.
Fourteen people died after illegally stored explosives detonated near homes in Xinmin in Shaanxi province last October.
Three people were killed and 21 injured last month after an engineering firm in Linghai in Liaoning province tried to dispose of explosives and they caught fire.
Huge blasts at a chemical warehouse in Tianjin two years ago killed 173 people, including many firefighters.
The blasts were caused by improperly stored dangerous chemicals. www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2083399/illegally-stored-explosives-blamed-blasts-residential-block