Collapse at power plant in China's southeast kills at least 40

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By BNO NEWS

At least 40 workers have been killed after scaffolding collapsed inside a cooling tower that is under construction at a power plant in southeast China, local officials say. A number of other workers remain trapped.

The accident happened at about 7 a.m. on Thursday when nearly 70 people were working inside a cooling tower that is under construction at a power plant in Fengcheng, a city in the southeastern province of Jiangxi.

The State Administration of Work Safety said a crane had fallen, causing the collapse of a construction platform inside the cooling tower. It said 68 people were working in the area, of whom 40 have been killed, 5 are injured, and some others remain missing.

Rescue work was continuing on early Thursday afternoon and there was no immediate word on the exact causes of the accident.

The rapid economic growth in China, in combination with poor safety measures, frequently results in industrial accidents, though accidents as deadly as the one on Thursday are not as common. In August 2015, at least 173 people were killed when explosions tore through a container storage facility in the port of Tianjin.

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