China can be a dangerous place to live. From substandard safety precautions to natural disasters to manmade mistakes, tragedy is an unavoidable fact of life here just as it is all over the world. Here is a rundown of some of the biggest Chinese catastrophes in the last year.

1) Factory fire: April 25th, 2011. Beijing

This makeshift factory caught fire from a “malfunctioning electric tricycle” that was being stored within. The building, illegally built by a Beijing resident who leased out the ground floor to a clothing manufacturer, exclusively housed migrant workers employed at the factory. 17 workers died, mainly from smoke inhalation, while another 25 (including two children) were critically wounded. Metal bars meant to protect the windows from break-ins most likely prevented many people from escaping.

2)  Coal mine explosion: March 11, 2011. Liupanshui

Coal mine disasters are nothing new in China, with thousands of workers killed every year, but the sharp demand for coal keeps these safety deficient (and often illegally run) mines in business. Unfortunately this explosion in Guizhou Province, where 15 workers escaped the blast and 19 miners were killed, is just another incident on a long list. These explosions usually occur when mines don’t have efficient ventilation, allowing methane and other gases to accumulate in the shaft of the mine and ignite.

3) Swine flu: February, 2011. China

Just when you thought you’d heard the last of the “swine flu,” the China Health Ministry reports that at least 20 people in China have died from H1N1 in January and February of 2011 alone, with nine different provinces reporting casualties from the disease. The Ministry has repeatedly stated that isolated cases will continue to crop up during the annual flu season, but that it’s nowhere near epidemic status. Over 800 people in China have died from the swine flu since April 2010, with a worldwide death toll of around 18,500 since the illness was discovered in Mexico in April 2009.

4) Apartment fire: November 15, 2010. Shanghai

A 28-story high-rise apartment building, mostly housing retired teachers, burst into flames on a busy street in Shanghai’s downtown Jing’an District. Over 100 people were saved, but despite the presence of over 60 fire trucks, 20 ambulances, and three helicopters, 53 residents died. The fire occurred when supplies being used to renovate the building caught fire, spread to the scaffolding, and then to the building itself. It was revealed that proper safety precautions were not being used during the government-mandated installation of energy efficient panels.

5) Plane crash: August 25, 2010. Harbin

Photo: News.cn

A passenger plane carrying 96 passengers crashed in Heilongjiang Province during an attempted night landing amidst heavy fog. The Henan Airlines plane, operated by Shenzhen Airlines, ejected some passengers onto the runway as it broke in two and caught fire, killing 43 people and injuring 53. Sources said at the time that this small airport around Harbin, located in a rural and densely thicketed area, was not properly equipped to handle such tricky night landings.

6) Landslide: July 13, 2010. Sichuan Province

Heavy summer rains wreaked havoc in South, East, and Central China, but on this date the results were more disastrous than ever when two back-to-back landslides killed 13 people and left two missing. While rain and flooding are normal yearly occurrences during China’s warm weather months, 2010 was much more severe than usual. The government reported hundreds of deaths since the beginning of the rainy season, with the overflowing Yangtze causing 43 deaths and 18 disappearances over the course of just one week.

7) Chemical plant explosion: July 28, 2010. Nanjing

An explosion at a vacant Nanjing chemical plant killed 13 people and injured more than 300. At least 50 out of those 300 injured were reported in “serious” condition. The blast was so powerful that all vehicles, structures and other buildings that were within a 100 meter radius of the factory were severely damaged, with broken glass raining down on witnesses. Investigators claim that the blast was caused by a pipeline snaking throughout the plant that sprung a gas leak, which then caught fire and exploded.

8) Train crash: May 23, 2010. Jiangxi

A train, originating in Shanghai and on its way to South China’s popular tourist destination of Guilin, derailed when it hit a part of the track that had been heavily damaged in recent landslides. Most of the train’s 17 carriages flew off the tracks when they hit the broken portion, resulting in the deaths of 19 people and injuring more than 70 others. In all, over 280 passengers were eventually able to flee the train, while more than 50 people had to be manually rescued from the debris.

9) Bus crash: May 23, 2010. Fuxin City

A truck collided with a coach on an expressway in Fuxin City, killing 29 bus passengers (28 were declared dead on the spot) and three truck passengers. At around 3:00am, the truck had just pulled out of a service area when it headed in the wrong direction down the highway. After colliding with the coach, the wreckage caught fire, causing further casualties. The coach was on its way to Harbin from Tianjin and had just entered a section of expressway that was under construction when the accident occurred.

10) Food poisoning April: June, 2010. China

In a three month span of 2010, food poisoning was responsible for killing almost 60 people in China and sickening almost 2,500 more. Of those who died, about half did so at home after eating vegetables tainted by poison or heavy doses of pesticides. Seven fatalities were caused by overdoses of nitrite, a meat preservative. It seems that you are no safer eating out, however, as 1,650 cases of food poisoning, 18 of which ended in death, were reported at either student or employee cafeterias. 

Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: Top ten tragedies China tragedies China 2010-2011 recent tragic accidents China recent tragedies China