Death toll rises to 75 in factory blast 

Medical staff move a severely burnt victim of an explosion at an eastern Chinese automotive parts factory from a hospital in the city of Kunshan, Jiangsu province

The death toll in an explosion at a Chinese auto parts factory has risen to 75, 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.
The blast killed 75 people, state media said. Another 186 people were injured, most with severe burns.
A preliminary investigation showed that the blast was likely a dust explosion, said China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Jiangsu’s provincial government website said Sunday that initial investigations by the Kunshan city government found that the factory was at fault in the dust explosion. It did not list specific safety measures that were not followed. AP

Jack Chang, Beijing