A search continues for 6 people missing after a chemical plant explosion in China

BEIJING — Rescuers searched Wednesday for six people still missing after an explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China shook nearby buildings, killing at least five people and injuring 19.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast at an industrial park in the Shandong province city of Weifang. The explosion knocked out windows of nearby buildings and spewed a thick plume of white smoke, according to videos shared on social media.

Nearby residents on Wednesday were grappling with how or whether to rebuild damaged homes, while provincial authorities vowed to eliminate any further risks to ensure safety in manufacturing.

Zhang Liyou, who runs a restaurant about 1 kilometer away (less than a mile away) from the explosion site, was serving lunch when the blast occurred, shattering the restaurant's windows and causing part of its ceiling paneling to collapse.

Fortunately, neither him nor the handful of diners were harmed, he told The Associated Press, but the restaurant building, which also doubled as his home was covered with debris. He said he didn't know if he would reopen.

''There is no way for us to do the business anymore,'' he said with a sigh.

The plant was separated from a nearby village by just a wheat field less than 700 meters (about a half mile) across. Residents told a state-backed media outlet, the Paper, that the blast had warped shutter doors, cracked walls and dislodged pieces of concrete from their roofs, and that they were worried about the structural integrity of their homes.

The plant is owned by Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co., a producer of pesticides and chemicals for medical use with more than 500 employees, according to corporate registration records.

Local fire officials sent more than 230 personnel to the scene, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

A student at a school about a kilometer away (less than a mile away) from the plant told the Paper that he heard an explosion and saw dirt-yellow smoke, tainted with redness, rising from the plant. He said there was a funny smell, and all students were given masks and told not to remove them.

It was unclear if there were any lingering health impacts after the initial explosion. A staffer at the local environment bureau told The Paper that a team was dispatched to the scene to monitor potential pollution but had yet to report back.

The blast came less than two weeks after the National Ministry of Emergency Management held a workshop on preventing and controlling risks in the chemical industry, as Beijing urged officials at chemical industrial parks to boost their capabilities in ''managing hazardous chemicals.''

Last year, the chemical plant was cited for ''safety risks'' at least twice, but in September it was praised by the Weifang Emergency Management Bureau for relying on party members to effectively manage workplace risks. Specifically, party members at Gaomi Youdao identified more than 800 safety hazards in the first eight months of 2024 and rectified all of them, the bureau said.

Workplace safety has improved over the years in China but remains a stubborn problem. The National Ministry of Emergency Management recorded 21,800 incidents and 19,600 deaths in 2024.

A warehouse complex storing large amounts of hazardous chemicals caught fire and exploded in Tianjin in 2015, leaving 173 dead or missing.

In 2019, 78 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant in Yancheng in China's eastern coastal province of Jiangsu.

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Associated Press journalist Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, and news researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.