Fuel used in Chinese Space programme explodes causing many deaths and injuries
A factory in Shijiazhuang, Zhaoxian County, Northern China has been devastated by an explosion that has killed 16, injured more than 40 and buried many workers in the rubble of the building. The Keepers Chemicals site was in the process of making Guanidine Nitrate which is a highly volatile compound used in the production of high energy fuel for space rockets.
Rescue efforts are underway for those trapped and an official investigation into the cause of the accident will follow.
China's Health and Safety laws are regularly flouted and an astoninshing 50,000 people are known to have died in workplace accidents and incidents in the first nine months of 2011 alone according to official figures.