Firefighters put out the fire and conduct rescue on early morning of May 5, 2026 following an explosion at a firework plant in Liuyang, Central China's Hunan Province the previous day. Photo: CNS Photo

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged all-out efforts to search for people who are still unaccounted for and save the injured after an explosion at a fireworks plant in central China's Hunan Province caused heavy casualties on Monday afternoon, Xinhua News Agency reported on early Tuesday morning.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an instruction ordering strengthened risk screening and hazard control in key sectors, enhanced public safety management, and efforts to safeguard people's lives and property, according to Xinhua.

The explosion occurred at around 4:40 pm at the plant in Liuyang, a county-level city under Changsha, capital city of Hunan.

Xi demanded proper handling of the aftermath and a prompt investigation into the accident, stressing that those responsible must be held accountable. Authorities across regions and departments must draw profound lessons from the accident and reinforce responsibility for workplace safety, he stressed.

Per a press conference on Tuesday, the accident had resulted in 26 deaths and 61 injuries. 

According to Xinhua, a State Council team will be established to thoroughly investigate the causes of a fireworks plant explosion in central China's Hunan Province and hold those responsible accountable.

Concerted efforts 

Changsha municipal authorities held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to provide an update on the latest rescue progress of the Liuyang fireworks plant explosion. The press conference started with a moment of silence to pay tribute to those affected by the accident, Xinhua live coverage of the press event showed. 

"The Changsha Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government express our deepest condolences to all the victims, and offer our sincere apologies to the families of the victims, the injured, other affected people, and to the entire society!" said Chen Bozhang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Changsha Municipal Committee and Mayor of Changsha, at the press conference. 

More than 1,500 personnel from fire rescue, emergency management, public security, health commissions, and other departments have been mobilized. At present, on-site search and rescue operations have been basically completed. The responsible persons of the involved enterprise have been put under legal measures. 

Liuyang is the world's premier fireworks production hub. The city's total fireworks output value surpassed 50 billion yuan ($7.26 billion), accounting for about 70 percent of China's fireworks exports and supporting nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the Hunan provincial Industry and Information Technology Department.

According to the Tuesday press conference, the Liuyang government has ordered all fireworks manufacturing enterprises across the city to completely halt production for thorough rectification. At the same time, large-scale safety inspections and rectifications are underway in all fields to close regulatory gaps, enforce enterprises' main responsibilities, and comprehensively enhance intrinsic safety standards.

Later on Tuesday, Xinhua, citing Department of Emergency Management of Hunan Province, reported that all fireworks enterprises across the province have been ordered to fully suspend production for rectification, and make every effort to prevent and eliminate all types of potential safety hazards.

Global Times learned from the Hunan provincial authorities that as of press time, among the 61 injured people hospitalized, 55 with minor injuries have undergone debridement, anti-inflammatory treatment, and symptomatic care, with stable vital signs. The six severely injured patients are being managed under a personalized "one patient, one strategy, one team" protocol, receiving specialized treatment such as anti-shock therapy, wound repair, and organ function support. 

Local officials revealed to the Global Times Tuesday that the Hunan Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps dispatched five fire rescue detachments, 116 fire trucks, and 482 firefighters to the scene. They also brought 15 search-and-rescue dogs, 18 drones, six robots, and one robotic dog. 

High-pressure jet trucks and mobile water cannons were also deployed to control the spread of fire, while drones, robots, and the robotic dog were sent into the disaster area to conduct personnel searches, fire control, and hotspot elimination.


Rush to rescue 

According to Xinhua on Tuesday morning, the Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a team to Liuyang to guide the rescue and relief work. Local rescue forces have rushed to the scene to treat the injured and carry out on-site response efforts, per the Xinhua report. 

After the explosion, Hunan Province immediately activated its emergency response plan, urgently dispatching five rescue teams totaling 482 personnel to the site for emergency operations and full-scale search and rescue efforts, per Xinhua.

At the rescue site, 20 rescue positions have been established. Rescue teams, equipped with three rescue robots, carried out a grid-style, comprehensive search and rescue operation in a human-machine collaborative approach, Xinhua reported on Tuesday morning.

Led by on-site rescue and firefighting personnel, a People's Daily reporter arrived at a location approximately 1 kilometer from the explosion's core area, where one can still smell the fireworks, and see the ruined building debris and shattered glass.

The press conference also outlined the two major difficulties faced in the rescue operation. 

First, there were overlapping explosions and risks of repeated ignitions. Large quantities of finished and semi-finished products kept reigniting, causing continuous sporadic explosions. In addition, a substantial amount of gunpowder stored in the warehouse area could not be relocated quickly, posing a direct and serious threat to the safety of rescue personnel, local official explained.

Second, the site conditions were extremely complex. The plant's walls, beams, columns, and roofs had mostly collapsed, creating massive piles of rubble. People were buried under the debris, access routes were blocked, and rescue operations were severely restricted. 

In the next phase, work will proceed according to the unified arrangements of the command headquarters. All efforts will be concentrated on securing the hazardous areas while doing everything possible to search for and rescue the trapped individuals, they said.