Beijing, Nov 25 – The death toll in last Friday’s deadly oil pipeline blast in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China’s Shandong Province, has risen to 52, as of 1pm Sunday.
Eleven other people are still reported missing.
Ten of the 136 hospitalised are reported to be in critical condition, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
So far, 18,000 residents have been evacuated. Despite the rainy weather, rescue operations are still underway.
On Saturday, Fu Chengyu, board chairman of Sinopec, the operator of the pipeline, apologised over the accident.
A statement posted on the company’s official Twitter-like Weibo on Saturday said the pipeline had been used for 27 years since July 1986.
The accident occurred about 10.30am on Friday, when workers were repairing the 176km-long petroleum pipeline which began leaking oil about 3am.
– Bernama
