At about 8:20 a.m. on October 21, a gas explosion accident occurred at the intersection of South Seventh Road, Taiyuan South Street, Heping District, Shenyang City. So far, the accident has killed 5 people and injured 47 others. Among them, 3 seriously injured people have been carefully treated, 2 have turned mild, and the other seriously ill person is in stable condition.
Glass debris scattered in Yichun Community Image source: Photo by Yang Yu, a trainee reporter
The official response to the latest developments in the investigation of the explosion accident in Shenyang
Two days after the accident, at about 22:00 on October 23, the relevant person in charge of Shenyang Heping District informed a number of media, including the Daily Economic News, of the two sets of the latest sets of relevant data since the explosion accident as of 17:00 on October 23.
The relevant person in charge said that at present, after the investigation of government departments and the report of the masses, the buildings involved in the impact of the explosion that need to be tested involve 99 buildings, and the professional institutions hired by the government have tested 86 buildings, all professional institutions have issued safety reports, and the remaining 13 buildings are being tested, including the building where the explosion center "Wang Erniu Roasted Bone Pavilion" is located, and the appraisal report will be issued as soon as possible.
Another set of data is related to rescue resettlement. The relevant person in charge said that after the accident, the local government set up a joint investigation team, and has now carried out household inspection and verification of 1858 households (residents affected by the explosion), including the loss of the house, the parts that need to be repaired, including the 93 shops along the street (explosion center), which also carried out one-on-one household inspection, and at present, 1858 residents and 93 shops have all signed a verification confirmation form, confirming that it is mainly used for future compensation, as well as the part that immediately enters the repair, especially involving the customization of doors and windows. Installation, began to replace the door for the masses, so that the masses can return home as soon as possible.
The "Daily Economic News" reporter noted that the cause of the accident was caused by pipeline problems or liquefied gas tanks, and the Heping District Government did not confirm.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge said that whether the explosion occurred in the hotel and which is the relevant responsible party, after the accident, the relevant provincial and municipal departments have sent experts to identify, the possible relevant parties have been investigated, all the relevant information has been handed over to the expert appraisal team, by the expert appraisal team for the entire accident for a rigorous appraisal, and finally will come up with a very objective, can restore the facts of the cause analysis, will be the first time to the outside world.
According to the official microblog of the Liaoning Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps, the preliminary judgment was that the scene was an explosion in a commercial and residential building. The specific cause of the accident is under investigation.
In response to the gas explosion accident, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has sent a working group to the scene of the accident to guide and help the local search and rescue of personnel, treatment of the injured, etc., to find out the cause of the accident and deal with it in accordance with laws and regulations. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that it will further guide and urge all localities to deeply learn lessons and solidly carry out special inspections and rectification of gas safety hazards in accordance with existing work arrangements.
The "Daily Economic News" reporter learned that there have been two gas explosion accidents in the accident block before. At about 14:00 on May 1, 2012, an explosion occurred at a ginseng specialty store in Taiyuan Street, Heping District, Shenyang City, injuring 8 people. At about 9 o'clock on March 4, 2013, an explosion occurred near Taiyuan Street in Heping District, Shenyang City. The site of the explosion was near the intersection of Zhonghua Road and Tongze Street. The accident was caused by the accidental operation of the construction personnel during the construction process, which caused the gas pipeline to rupture and the deflagration caused by a large amount of gas leakage encountering an open flame.
In addition, according to the information of Shenyang Daily on October 13, Shenyang Gas Group plans to renovate 200 kilometers of old gas pipeline network this year, and there are currently 44 kilometers left, and it is expected to complete the transformation by November 10.
Lv Yan, assistant general manager of Shenyang Gas Co., Ltd., said in an interview at the time that since the start of construction in May 2021, this year has completed the renovation of 156 kilometers of old gas pipeline networks in many streets such as Lingdong Street, Taiyuan Street Pedestrian Commercial Street, Yellow River Street, South Fifth Road, etc., and is now undergoing the transformation and construction of more than 10 old gas pipeline networks in the city's key streets such as Qingnian Street, Shengli Street, Nanjing Street, Shifu Road, Jianshe Road, shenliao Road, etc.
The above report also said that the old gas pipeline network to be transformed in Shenyang mainly refers to the gray cast iron pipe laid in the 1980s, and its service life has exceeded 30 years, which is the biggest safety hazard of the current gas pipeline network system.
"Suddenly I felt like I was being bounced off bed"
Yichun Community is located in Xinhua Street, Heping District, and the hotel "Wang Er Niu Roasted Bone Shop" where the gas explosion accident occurred is a shop in the east district of Yichun Community.
At about 2 p.m. on the 22nd, the Daily Economic News reporter came to Yichun Community and found that the residential building facilities in the community were relatively old, close to the residential buildings on the side of South Seventh Road, and the external wall of the building was partially peeled off. A large number of broken glass and damaged window frames can still be seen next to the garbage cans in the community. Talking about the situation at the time of the explosion, many residents of the community who have personally experienced it still have palpitations.
Aunt Zhang told reporters that when the explosion occurred on the morning of the 21st, she was sitting on a bedroom chair knitting a sweater. "The bang blew me up, almost all the windows in the house were shattered, even the bed had broken glass, the windows were all smoke, and soon I heard the sound of police cars outside."
Another aunt in the community told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that after the explosion, not only the glass in the home was shattered, but also cracks appeared in the wall. "I was sleeping at home and suddenly felt like I was being bounced out of bed, which was very scary, and I felt that the building was shaking."
Some residents of the community also told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that although they were not injured, the car parked downstairs was damaged. "I went to the community to register, but the other side said that if the house is damaged first, the compensation problem of the car may be delayed for a while."
In addition, the reporter also found several municipal department staff in the Yichun community, and the other party said that he had come to check the damage to the building. "We just came over and are still waiting for the notice of the unit."
At 2 p.m. on the 22nd, broken glass could still be seen on the ground in time to be removed
The building where the incident occurred is a mixed commercial and residential building
Chen Fang (pseudonym), a real estate consultant of an intermediary company near Yichun Community, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the place of the incident was a commercial and residential building, the first to third floors of the building were shops, mostly restaurants, and the fourth to seventh floors were apartments. "The housing is a 70-year property, and with a school district, it is the school district housing of Nanchang Middle School and Tiewu Primary School, which are 'double-key' schools."
Chen Fang told reporters that Yichun Community was built in the 90s of the last century, belongs to the old community, although the facilities are old, but the vacancy rate is not high, the community has more units, from more than 30 square meters to 110 square meters of apartment types. The average price of small and medium-sized apartments per square meter can be sold for nearly 20,000 yuan.
The "Daily Economic News" reporter inquired about the housing information of the community on the chain home network, showing that the Yichun community was built from 1994 to 1999, and the transaction ownership was commercial housing, central heating and gas. The average listing price this week is about 15,900 yuan per square meter.
For the living environment of the community, Chen Fang said that the more obvious shortcoming is the mixed use of commercial and residential, especially the row of buildings facing the street, there are more catering shops downstairs.
As for whether the explosion accident is related to the transformation of gas pipelines, Chen Fang told reporters that she only knows that the residential buildings in the community provide natural gas pipelines, and the pipelines of the upstairs residences normally need to be connected from the first floor.
The "Daily Economic News" reporter then called Shenyang Gas Group Co., Ltd., and the company's operator told reporters, "As long as the gas pipeline is connected, we will register for the record." ”
The reporter then reported the address of the "Wang Erniu Roasted Bones" Taiyuan Street store - No. 222, Taiyuan South Street, Heping District, trying to let the other party inquire, but the gas company operator told reporters: "The registration information of No. 222 Taiyuan South Street cannot be queried." ”
At 2 p.m. on the 22nd, the construction personnel were still disposing of the scene at the site of the accident
A number of restaurants say they use liquefied gas tanks for business
The "Daily Economic News" reporter interviewed a number of restaurants and shops around the explosion site, and many shops interviewed by reporters said that the store still used liquefied gas tanks and did not connect to natural gas.
A restaurant owner called "Niuzhuang Pie" told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the pressure of the liquefied gas tank is higher than that of the natural gas pipeline, which is more suitable for restaurant stir-fry cooking. Natural gas pipelines are generally more suitable for residential households.
But the boss revealed to reporters, "The night before the explosion, I also saw someone on Taiyuan South Street repairing the pipeline, possibly in the process of pipe network transformation." ”
Ms. Wang (pseudonym), the owner of another printing shop, told reporters that two days ago she saw South Eighth Road undergoing the transformation of the pipe network of gas pipelines. "At that time, a long line was pulled up, all the way to the end of south seventh road."
According to Red Star News, some Shenyang gas operators said that the west side of Taiyuan South Street, between South Seventh Road and South Eighth Road, from 10 pm on October 20 to 5 am on October 21, there was construction work; No. 236 Taiyuan South Street, No. 224 Taiyuan South Street, No. 24 Yibin South Road, and No. 222 Taiyuan South Street, construction began at 22:00 on October 20, 2021, and the project ended at 6:00 on October 21, and was reported to the gas company at 7:10. The gas company then sent someone to the scene to ventilate the gas stop address one by one.
Source: Daily Economic News
Editor: Liu Mengge