2005 Jilin chemical plant explosions

The Jilin chemical plant explosions were a series of explosions which occurred on November 13, 2005, in the No.102 Petrochemical Plant in Jilin City, Jilin Province, China, over the period of an hour. The explosions killed six, injured dozens, and caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. The cause of the blasts was initially determined two days after the blast: the accident site is a nitration unit for aniline equipment. T-102 tower was jammed up and was not handled properly. The blasts were so powerful that they shattered windows at least 100 to 200 meters away; at least 70 people were injured and six were killed. The fires were finally put out early in the morning of November 14. Over 10,000 people were evacuated from the area, including local residents and students at the north campus of Beihua University and Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology, for fear of further explosions and contamination with harmful chemicals. The CNPC, which owns the company in charge of the factory, Jilin Petrochemical Corporation, asked senior officials to investigate the cause of the incidents. The explosions were not thought to be related to terrorism, and the company told a press conference that they had occurred as a result of a chemical blockage that had gone unfixed. The municipal government asked hotels and restaurants in the city to provide rooms for the evacuated people. Taxi companies also aided in the evacuation. The explosion severely polluted the Songhua River, with an estimated 100 tons of pollutants containing benzene and nitrobenzene entering into the river. Exposure to benzene reduces red blood cell count and is linked to leukemia. An 80 km long toxic slick drifted down the Amur River, and the benzene level recorded was at one point 108 times above national safety levels. The slick passed first on the Songhua River through several counties and cities of Jilin province, including Songyuan; it then entered the province of Heilongjiang, with Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province and one of China's largest cities, being one of the first places to be affected.

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Jilin City

Jilin City (, Mandarin pronunciation: ji2lin2), alternately romanized as Kirin (, IPA:/ki.rin/), is the second-largest city and former capital of Jilin province in northeast China. As of the 2020 census, 3,623,713 people resided within its administrative area of and 1,895,865 in its built-up (or metro) area consisting of four urban districts. A prefecture-level city, it is the only major city nationally that shares its name with its province. Jilin City is also known as the River City because of the Songhua River surrounding much of the city.

Jilin

Jilin dʒiːˈlɪn (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Primorsky Krai) to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west. Along with the rest of Northeast China, Jilin underwent an early period of industrialization. However, Jilin's economy, characterized by heavy industry, has been facing economic difficulties with privatization.