(Reuters) - China has suspended work at more than 200 factories in an eastern province for safety checks as part of a nationwide review following an explosion at an auto parts plant that killed 75 people, government officials and state media said.
Officials have been ordered to shut all aluminium and magnesium factories - and others that generate metal dust - for safety violations, the Jiangsu provincial government said in a statement late on Wednesday. Some 214 factories in Suzhou and 54 factories in Kunshan have been shut and will not reopen until they obtain government approval.
It was not immediately clear how long that would take.
Provinces such as Shaanxi, Tianjin and Sichuan, as well as the Guangxi special administrative region, have also stepped up safety checks. The crackdown comes after a blast at Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Co Ltd on Saturday, China's worst industrial accident in a year.
State media has reported that investigators' preliminary findings show that Kunshan Zhongrong bears the main responsibility for the blast in Jiangsu, which also injured 185 people when a flame was lit in a dust-filled room.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/us-china-factory-blast-idUSKBN0G70HN20140807
