Recently, the official WeChat account of Xuzhou released a situation report on a fire accident at a project construction site in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone:

At around 16:50 on December 2, 2022, a fire broke out at a project construction site on the west side of Jinfeng Road in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, and the open flames were extinguished at 22:20. Through the full-scale rescue efforts of firefighting, emergency management, public security and other departments, all seven people trapped in the accident were successively rescued and sent to hospital for treatment. Among them, five died after rescue efforts failed, and two suffered minor injuries.‍

Videos circulating online showed thick smoke billowing at the scene and a large fire.

Xuzhou authorities previously released information stating that, as an investment promotion project, the Hongyuan New Materials New Energy Industry Integration Project officially started construction on August 16 this year, and is the only major industrial project in Xuzhou with an investment of over 10 billion yuan to newly start construction this year. The project will be implemented in three phases: Phase I will build 25GW monocrystalline silicon wafer production capacity, Phase II will build 14GW high-efficiency crystalline silicon cell production capacity, and Phase III will build 10GW high-efficiency crystalline silicon cell production capacity. The total investment is about 15 billion yuan, with a total construction area of about 700,000 square meters. After the project reaches full production, it can form an annual production capacity of 25GW monocrystalline silicon wafers and 24GW N-type high-efficiency cells, with an estimated annual output value of 40 billion yuan. On November 6, the first batch of production equipment officially entered the site for commissioning.‍

It is understood that the fire occurred at Hongyuan New Materials (Xuzhou) Co., Ltd. on Jinfeng Road in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. Tianyancha shows that the company was registered and established on May 12, 2022, and mainly engages in new material technology research and development, research and development of special electronic materials, and other projects. According to the official website of the Administrative Committee of the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, on the morning of November 6, the event for the first batch of equipment entering the site for the 10-billion-yuan-level Hongyuan New Materials New Energy Industry Integration Project in the development zone was held.

Fire scene / video screenshot

The construction site where the fire occurred is a newly built factory building belonging to a new materials industry company. A search of relevant information by the reporter found that the first phase and first batch of the industry integration project has a construction area of nearly 100,000 square meters, and the estimated total construction period from commencement to production is 90 days.

On the morning of December 3, the Xuzhou Emergency Management Bureau of Jiangsu Province stated in a relevant situation report that follow-up work is currently being carried out in an orderly manner. The Xuzhou Municipal Government has established an accident investigation team and is promptly carrying out accident investigation work.