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Rescue operations underway after blasts in northern China

Rescuers in China are working to free people trapped under rubble following a series of deadly explosions in a northern provincial capital.

China correspondent Tom O'Byrne reports, police have blocked all access to the location, south of the capital, Beijing.

Already there are dramatically conflicting reports about the death toll from the explosions which took place in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province. China's official media are reporting only one blast and a death toll of nineteen. But police and human rights monitors say at least four separate explosions across the city at diferent times left up to two hundred people dead. Police have closed all roads leading to the area in a bid to control information, and have named a suspect who is now wanted in connection with the incident. The explosions centred on accommodation attached to a state-owned cotton mill where several thousand employees were expecting to be laid-off.

18/03/01 0:21:22 | ABC Radio Australia News

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