Yangtze disaster tops list of recent safety accidents

The sinking of a cruise ship carrying more than 400 people on China’s Yangtze River highlighted concerns about safety in the world’s most populous nation. The country has witnessed a series of safety-related accidents over the past few years.
An explosion ignited by metal dust at a factory in Kunshan city near Shanghai killed 146 people last August.
A fire at a poultry plant in June 2013 in the northeastern province of Jilin left 120 people dead, in China’s deadliest blast since 2000.
A high-rise apartment in central Shanghai caught fire in November 2010, killing 58, after unlicensed electric welders set scaffolding on fire. The accident led the government to impose more stringent fire control measures.
A high-speed rail crash near the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou in July 2011 killed 40 people, including two Chinese-Americans and an Italian woman. The accident was blamed on mismanagement and design flaws on the trains.
A stampede on Shanghai’s historic Bund riverside area last New Year’s Eve killed 36. Four officials were fired for failing to provide sufficient security after President Xi Jinping ordered a probe and a review of safety in public places. Bloomberg