Collapse kills nearly 70 workers

Xi, Li urge stepped-up efforts after builders' platform gives way

Sixty-seven workers have been confirmed dead and three injured after a working platform within a power plant's unfinished cooling tower collapsed on Thursday morning in Jiangxi province.

President Xi Jinping urged local authorities early on Thursday to step up rescue, treatment and follow-up efforts. The country has seen several recent work accidents, and the central government should take steps to thoroughly root out work safety hazards, he said.

Premier Li Keqiang called on rescue workers to put lives first by saving anyone who was trapped and by treating the injured. He urged setting up a State Council team to help investigate the cause of the accident and punish anyone accountable according to laws.

The collapse occurred at around 7 am on Thursday when a tower crane's collapse triggered the collapse of the entire construction platform within the cooling tower of the Fengcheng Power Plant in Yichun, Jiangxi.

One of the three injured workers was in critical condition, according to a statement from the provincial government.

The two other workers were in stable condition at a hospital, China Central Television reported. They were migrant workers from Gansu province, the report said, adding that the work crew also included workers from Cheng'an county, Hebei province.

Li Yihuang, the vice-governor of Jiangxi who is heading a provincial-level investigation team, said at a news briefing that workers from the night shift were being relieved by the morning shift when the collapse occurred.

"We will conduct a serious investigation into the cause of the accident and hold those who are responsible accountable," he said.

Local authorities sent more than 500 rescuers to the collapse site after the incident took place.

The construction of two 1 million-kilowatt, coal-fired power units at the plant began in July last year and was expected to be completed by early 2018, local authorities said.

The power plant, which is owned by Jiangxi Ganneng Co, launched a 100-day campaign on Sept 13 to speed up construction of the plant, according to a statement released by the company in September.

In the statement, the company had said its administrative staff should go to the construction site to supervise the construction units to increase the number of workers, speed up progress on the projects and take advantage of days with "fine weather", the statement said.

Li Yihuang, the vice-governor, said construction of the cooling tower started in April. The height of the tower will be 160 meters when completed. So far, workers have completed the construction of 70 meters.

The accident in Jiangxi is the country's third major work accident in the past three months.

On Sept 28, a gas explosion at a coal mine in Shizuishan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, killed 19 people and left one person missing. On Oct 31, a gas explosion at a coal mine in Yongchuan district of Chongqing killed 33 miners.

Contact the writer at xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn