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43 held for probe into N China fatal blast

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-12 17:13

HOHHOT -- Forty-three suspects have been arrested following a police investigation of a blast in March that killed two people and injured six others in a residential quarter in Wuhai City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local prosecutors said Tuesday.

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The prosecutors said they approved the arrests on charges of illegal mining, trading and stocking of explosives, which caused the accident on March 18.

The blast ripped through a single-story home at about 6:40 a.m. in Lasengmiao Township, Wuhai City, 526 kilometers west of the regional capital Hohhot. Several surrounding homes were leveled or damaged.

Rescuers found eight people in the debris, of whom two died. The rest were hospitalized.

"Explosives that belonged to local mining firms were illegally stored in the residence. Police have traced the suspects to neighboring Gansu Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region," said Wang Ruifeng, a police officer in Wuhai.

Six illegal miners were given jail terms from three to five years in Wuhai earlier this year.

Wuhai is rich in mineral resources such as coal, ore minerals and clay.