On 28 November 2018, the explosion of an acetylene-loaded truck near Hebei Shenghua's (Zhangjiakou, Hebei / China; www.hhsh.chemchina.com) PVC plant in northeastern China killed at least 23 people (video from China's state-owned English-language news channel CGTN). Another 22 were injured, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The accident apparently happened when a truck was delivering the flammable gas to Haipo New Energy Technology's factory. The fire spread to other vehicles, destroying 38 trucks and 12 cars. Most of the casualties were drivers who had spent the night in their vehicles.

Acetylene is one of the feedstocks for PVC production. It is also used to produce plastics such as polyacrylonitrile and polyvinyl acetate, as well as rubbers like chloroprene. Hebei Shenghua, a subsidiary of the China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina, Beijing; www.chemchina.com.cn/en/), has two PVC lines in Zhangjiakou with a total capacity of 400,000 t/y according to Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net).

This accident is the latest in a series of industrial fires and explosions that China has witnessed over the years. One of the biggest disasters of this kind was the explosion at a chemical storage facility in the northeastern port city of Tianjin in 2015, in which 173 people lost their lives – see Plasteurope.com of 13.08.2015.