In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, smoke rises from the site of explosions from a factory in Baotou, in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP
An explosion at a steel plate factory in north China’s Inner Mongolia region killed two people and left five missing, according to local emergency management and fire rescue departments, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The explosion occurred at a plate plant of steelmaker Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union in Baotou city at around 3 p.m. on Sunday (January 18, 2026), CCTV reported.
Sixty-six people were hospitalized after the blast, with three in critical condition, the report said.
Local authorities dispatched rescue teams to the site to carry out search and rescue operations following the incident, and the cause of the explosion remains under investigation, it said.
Published – January 19, 2026 08:10 am IST
