SHANGHAI: Shanghai authorities on Saturday announced an investigation into a massive chemical plant blaze that left one person dead and another injured in the first major industrial accident since the city lifted lockdown in early June.

The fire at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. plant in outlying Jinshan district broke out at around dawn on Saturday, and was brought under control within hours, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Aerial drone footage shared by a resident showed thick clouds of smoke hanging over a vast industrial zone as three fires blazed in separate locations, turning the sky black.

“At present, on-site disposal work is being implemented in an orderly manner, and protective combustion is being carried out,” the Shanghai government said on social media, adding that “safety risks” were “controllable”.

“Monitoring data ... show that the air quality has basically returned to normal.” The Shanghai government added that its emergency management bureau has launched an investigation into the cause of the accident.

The company said in a separate Weibo post that it would cooperate with the investigation, and that the closure of relevant facilities “will not have a significant impact on the market”.

The person who died was a “third-party transport vehicle driver” and an employee was suffered minor injuries, the company said.

Published in Dawn,June 19th, 2022