23 confirmed dead in east China plant blast

Some 23 people were confirmed dead and 10 others remain missing after a blast ripped through an explosives manufacturing plant in east China's Shandong Province, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. Rescuers are continuing their search for the 10 people still missing, it said. The blast, which occurred on Monday morning inside a three-story workshop of a plant in Zhangqiu City, also injured 19 people. The injured are being treated in hospitals and they are in stable conditions, according to the headquarters. A team of experts has been dispatched by the State Administration of Work Safety to the site to collect evidence, and an investigation into the cause of the blast is under way.