Rescuers work on site after an explosion at a fireworks plant in Liuyang, central China's Hunan Province, May 5, 2026. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)
Beijing: The death toll from a huge blast at a fireworks factory in central China this week rose to 37, state media reported Friday, making it one of the nation's deadliest industrial accidents in years.
Videos on social media from the blast on Monday showed continuous explosions accompanied by a vast cloud of smoke rising high into the air in a rural area surrounded by mountains.
Search and rescue operations at the site had "basically concluded", state broadcaster CCTV reported Friday.
The explosion at the Liuyang Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Company in Liuyang, Hunan province, caused 37 deaths, with one person still missing and dozens receiving medical treatment, CCTV said.
Police have summoned eight people over the accident, the broadcaster added.
The new death toll, up from 26 on Tuesday, puts the Liuyang fireworks blast among China's deadliest industrial accidents in recent years.
Last year, an explosion at another fireworks factory in Hunan killed nine people.
Liuyang is a major fireworks hub, producing around 60 percent of the fireworks sold in China and 70 percent of those exported.
Following the blast, all fireworks makers in Hunan's provincial capital Changsha, which administers Liuyang, had been ordered to stop production ahead of safety inspections, CCTV said at the time.
