A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in eastern China on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens as it knocked down factory buildings and sent a huge plume of smoke skyward, officials and state media said.

The blast occurred at around 2:50 pm (0650 GMT) at a facility run by Tianjiayi Chemical in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, city officials said on their official Twitter-like Weibo account.

It is the latest industrial incident to rock China in recent years.

Around the time of the explosion, China's earthquake administration reported a 2.2-magnitude tremor in Lianyungang, a city near the Yancheng blast.

Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed windows of nearby houses blown out from the force of the explosion. An aerial view of the blast area showed a large swath of destruction in an industrial park, where multiple fires still raged.

A CCTV reporter on the scene said that toxic fumes were coming from the blast site.

At least six people were killed and 30 seriously injured, while numerous others in the vicinity were slightly injured, city officials said on Weibo late Thursday.

"At present, on-site rescue is still going on... The cause of the accident is under investigation," officials said.

Injured residents near the site of the explosion have been sent to hospital for treatment, according to local authorities.

Medical staff, as well as personnel from the public security bureau and fire department, have been sent to the scene, they added.

Buildings knocked down

According to official news agency Xinhua, citing local authorities, the explosion occurred following a fire in a fertiliser factory in a chemical industrial park.

Workers near the site of the blast were trapped after shockwaves from the explosion knocked down nearby factory buildings, the report said.

Workers covered in blood were seen running out of the factory, Xinhua added, citing witnesses.

Images broadcast by state media showed an enormous explosion, with flames engulfing the top of the chemical plant.

Other shots showed thick grey smoke billowing skyward from the site of the blast.

History of industrial disasters

Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.

In November, a gas leak caused an explosion at a PVC production plant in a northern Chinese city that will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, killing 24 people and injuring 21 others.

A report published by local authorities in February revealed that the Chinese chemical firm responsible for the accident had concealed information and misled investigators.&nbsp;

Last July, a blast at a chemical plant in southwest Sichuan province left 19 dead and 12 injured. The company had undertaken illegal construction that had not passed safety checks, according to local authorities.

And in 2015, giant chemical blasts in a container storage facility killed at least 165 people in the northern port city of Tianjin.

The explosions caused more than $1 billion in damage and sparked widespread anger at a perceived lack of transparency over the accident's causes and its environmental impact.

A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in eastern China on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens as it knocked down factory buildings and sent a huge plume of smoke skyward, officials and state media said.

A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in eastern China on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens as it knocked down factory buildings and sent a huge plume of smoke skyward, officials and state media said. The blast occurred at around 2:50 pm (0650 GMT) at a facility run by Tianjiayi Chemical in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, city officials said on their official Twitter-like Weibo account. It is the latest industrial incident to rock China in recent years. Around the time of the explosion, China's earthquake administration reported a 2.2-magnitude tremor in Lianyungang, a city near the Yancheng blast. Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed windows of nearby houses blown out from the force of the explosion. An aerial view of the blast area showed a large swath of destruction in an industrial park, where multiple fires still raged. A CCTV reporter on the scene said that toxic fumes were coming from the blast site. At least six people were killed and 30 seriously injured, while numerous others in the vicinity were slightly injured, city officials said on Weibo late Thursday. "At present, on-site rescue is still going on... The cause of the accident is under investigation," officials said. Injured residents near the site of the explosion have been sent to hospital for treatment, according to local authorities. Medical staff, as well as personnel from the public security bureau and fire department, have been sent to the scene, they added. Buildings knocked down According to official news agency Xinhua, citing local authorities, the explosion occurred following a fire in a fertiliser factory in a chemical industrial park. Workers near the site of the blast were trapped after shockwaves from the explosion knocked down nearby factory buildings, the report said. Workers covered in blood were seen running out of the factory, Xinhua added, citing witnesses. Images broadcast by state media showed an enormous explosion, with flames engulfing the top of the chemical plant. Other shots showed thick grey smoke billowing skyward from the site of the blast. History of industrial disasters Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced. In November, a gas leak caused an explosion at a PVC production plant in a northern Chinese city that will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, killing 24 people and injuring 21 others. A report published by local authorities in February revealed that the Chinese chemical firm responsible for the accident had concealed information and misled investigators. Last July, a blast at a chemical plant in southwest Sichuan province left 19 dead and 12 injured. The company had undertaken illegal construction that had not passed safety checks, according to local authorities. And in 2015, giant chemical blasts in a container storage facility killed at least 165 people in the northern port city of Tianjin. The explosions caused more than $1 billion in damage and sparked widespread anger at a perceived lack of transparency over the accident's causes and its environmental impact.

Six dead, dozens injured as blast rocks China chemical plant

British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, on his Chinese microblog Weibo account, praised the lead singer of China&#39;s most popular boy band for asking about life beyond Earth.

Wang Junkai, leader singer of the wildly popular TFBOYS, posted a video of himself on his Weibo account on Friday asking the author of &quot;A Brief History of Time&quot; how humanity should prepare for interstellar migration in years to come.

Hawking recently warned that the human race must evacuate Earth in 600 years before soaring energy consumption turns the planet into a &quot;ball of fire&quot;.

Earlier this month, Hawking made a video appearance at a science summit organised by Tencent Holdings and pleaded for investors to support his idea of travelling to the closest star outside our solar system in the hope of finding an inhabitable planet.

The 75-year old physicist said in a video posting on his Weibo account that Wang asked &quot;an excellent question&quot;, which gave him insight into Chinese millennnials and their &quot;curiosities&quot; regarding the future.

Wang and his two other band mates each have more than 30 million followers on their Twitter-like Weibo microblog accounts.

Owned by Weibo Corp, Weibo is China&#39;s biggest social media platform with more than 200 million active users.

Hawking, who opened his Weibo account last year, has 4.3 million followers, while British Prime Minister Theresa May has more than 900,000, having inherited her account from David Cameron.

Wang Junkai asked Hawking how humanity should prepare for interstellar migration in years to come

British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, on his Chinese microblog Weibo account, praised the lead singer of China's most popular boy band for asking about life beyond Earth. Wang Junkai, leader singer of the wildly popular TFBOYS, posted a video of himself on his Weibo account on Friday asking the author of "A Brief History of Time" how humanity should prepare for interstellar migration in years to come. Hawking recently warned that the human race must evacuate Earth in 600 years before soaring energy consumption turns the planet into a "ball of fire". Earlier this month, Hawking made a video appearance at a science summit organised by Tencent Holdings and pleaded for investors to support his idea of travelling to the closest star outside our solar system in the hope of finding an inhabitable planet. The 75-year old physicist said in a video posting on his Weibo account that Wang asked "an excellent question", which gave him insight into Chinese millennnials and their "curiosities" regarding the future. Wang and his two other band mates each have more than 30 million followers on their Twitter-like Weibo microblog accounts. Owned by Weibo Corp, Weibo is China's biggest social media platform with more than 200 million active users. Hawking, who opened his Weibo account last year, has 4.3 million followers, while British Prime Minister Theresa May has more than 900,000, having inherited her account from David Cameron.

Stephen Hawking lauds Chinese pop star for space migration question

China is investigating its top social media sites, including WeChat and Weibo, for failing to comply with cyber laws, the latest step in the country&#39;s push to secure the internet and maintain strict Communist Party control over content.

President Xi Jinping has made China&#39;s &quot;cyber sovereignty&quot; a top priority and has also reasserted the ruling party&#39;s role in limiting and guiding online discussion. Surveillance is being further tightened ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party later this year, when global attention will be on news coming from the world&#39;s No.2 economy.

Apart from Tencent Holdings Group WeChat and Weibo, China&#39;s Cyberspace Administration said it was also investigating Baidu forum site Tieba over failing to comply with strict new laws that ban content which is obscene, violent and deemed offensive by the Communist Party.

&quot;Users are spreading violence, terror, false rumours, pornography and other hazards to national security, public safety, social order,&quot; the regulator said on its website.

Baidu said it felt &quot;deep regret&quot; over the content and will &quot;actively cooperate with government departments to rectify the issue and increase the intensity of auditing&quot;.

Tencent and Weibo did not respond to requests for comment.

Shares of the Hong Kong-listed firm were in the red after the news, down almost 5 per cent. Investors will now be waiting to see how shares of the US listed firms react.

Just last month, all three were asked to carry out immediate &quot;cleaning and rectification&quot; at a meeting with authorities who cited examples of illicit content, including rumours about party officials and misrepresenting Chinese military history.

Prior to the meeting, Weibo was asked to partly close its video site over violations, wiping out a total $1.3 billion worth of stock between Weibo and parent firm Sina.

In recent months, regulators have taken severe and unprecedented moves to shutter content and media across a variety of platforms. In May, it released regulations for online news sites and network portals that expanded curbs on content and required all services to be overseen by party-sanctioned editorial staff.

It has taken down popular celebrity gossip social media accounts and there has also been a <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/apple-abstains-its-chinese-users-from-accessing-vpn-18430">sweeping campaign to remove virtual private network apps</a> that allow users to circumvent China&#39;s so-called &#39;Great Firewall&#39; and access foreign websites.

Western social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are banned by the country&#39;s censors, which in turn has helped drive up the popularity of home-grown messaging app WeChat and microblogging service Weibo.

WeChat and Weibo have about 940 million and 350 million monthly active users, respectively.

President Xi Jinping has made China's 'cyber sovereignty' a top priority and has also reasserted the ruling party's role in limiting and guiding online discussion

China is investigating its top social media sites, including WeChat and Weibo, for failing to comply with cyber laws, the latest step in the country's push to secure the internet and maintain strict Communist Party control over content. President Xi Jinping has made China's "cyber sovereignty" a top priority and has also reasserted the ruling party's role in limiting and guiding online discussion. Surveillance is being further tightened ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party later this year, when global attention will be on news coming from the world's No.2 economy. Apart from Tencent Holdings Group WeChat and Weibo, China's Cyberspace Administration said it was also investigating Baidu forum site Tieba over failing to comply with strict new laws that ban content which is obscene, violent and deemed offensive by the Communist Party. "Users are spreading violence, terror, false rumours, pornography and other hazards to national security, public safety, social order," the regulator said on its website. Baidu said it felt "deep regret" over the content and will "actively cooperate with government departments to rectify the issue and increase the intensity of auditing". Tencent and Weibo did not respond to requests for comment. Shares of the Hong Kong-listed firm were in the red after the news, down almost 5 per cent. Investors will now be waiting to see how shares of the US listed firms react. Just last month, all three were asked to carry out immediate "cleaning and rectification" at a meeting with authorities who cited examples of illicit content, including rumours about party officials and misrepresenting Chinese military history. Prior to the meeting, Weibo was asked to partly close its video site over violations, wiping out a total $1.3 billion worth of stock between Weibo and parent firm Sina. In recent months, regulators have taken severe and unprecedented moves to shutter content and media across a variety of platforms. In May, it released regulations for online news sites and network portals that expanded curbs on content and required all services to be overseen by party-sanctioned editorial staff. It has taken down popular celebrity gossip social media accounts and there has also been a sweeping campaign to remove virtual private network apps that allow users to circumvent China's so-called 'Great Firewall' and access foreign websites. Western social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are banned by the country's censors, which in turn has helped drive up the popularity of home-grown messaging app WeChat and microblogging service Weibo. WeChat and Weibo have about 940 million and 350 million monthly active users, respectively.

Now, China to control local social media content

Weibo, the operator of China&#39;s top microblogging site, will block unapproved video content and work more closely with state media to promote &quot;meanstream&quot; ideas, the firm said, following a sharp rebuke from regulators last week.

Chinese authorities have launched a broad campaign to control political opinion and formalise online surveillance mechanisms, cracking down on online content including literature, livestreaming, news and social media accounts.

Last week, the media watchdog, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television, threatened to close Weibo&#39;s video service along with two other popular services, ACFUN and iFeng.

In a statement posted on its website, Weibo said it &quot;sincerely accepted the criticism&quot;, and would immediately begin work to remove political, media and current affairs video accounts from outlets that lack a license.

Weibo added that it will strengthen cooperation with the country&#39;s top three state media outlets that are Xinhua news agency, China Central Television and the People&#39;s Daily. It also said it would work to promote outlets that represent mainstream political ideas.

Unlicensed television and film content, as well as videos longer than 15 minutes, will be banned on the platform, it said.

Television and film producers in China are legally required to submit content for approval, a regulation that has increasingly targeted the country&#39;s extensive and fast-growing online film industry.

China&#39;s cyberspace authorities ordered internet companies earlier this month to close 60 popular celebrity gossip social media accounts to help &quot;actively propagate core socialist values&quot; and prop up &quot;mainstream public opinion&quot;.

Shares in Weibo and Sina, which has a stake in Weibo, have fallen since the watchdog issued its warning last week, but are still up nearly 160 per cent over the last year.

Chinese authorities have launched a broad campaign to control political opinion and formalise online surveillance mechanisms

Weibo, the operator of China's top microblogging site, will block unapproved video content and work more closely with state media to promote "meanstream" ideas, the firm said, following a sharp rebuke from regulators last week. Chinese authorities have launched a broad campaign to control political opinion and formalise online surveillance mechanisms, cracking down on online content including literature, livestreaming, news and social media accounts. Last week, the media watchdog, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television, threatened to close Weibo's video service along with two other popular services, ACFUN and iFeng. In a statement posted on its website, Weibo said it "sincerely accepted the criticism", and would immediately begin work to remove political, media and current affairs video accounts from outlets that lack a license. Weibo added that it will strengthen cooperation with the country's top three state media outlets that are Xinhua news agency, China Central Television and the People's Daily. It also said it would work to promote outlets that represent mainstream political ideas. Unlicensed television and film content, as well as videos longer than 15 minutes, will be banned on the platform, it said. Television and film producers in China are legally required to submit content for approval, a regulation that has increasingly targeted the country's extensive and fast-growing online film industry. China's cyberspace authorities ordered internet companies earlier this month to close 60 popular celebrity gossip social media accounts to help "actively propagate core socialist values" and prop up "mainstream public opinion". Shares in Weibo and Sina, which has a stake in Weibo, have fallen since the watchdog issued its warning last week, but are still up nearly 160 per cent over the last year.

China's Weibo to block unapproved video content

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