When the blast occurred, a total of 24 people were working in the Bamianshan tunnel, which is being built for the Yanling-Rucheng expressway. Four of them were pulled out, including one in critical conditions and another slightly injured. The two injured have been hospitalised.
Rescuers have conducted life detections six times at the site but no sign of life has been detected.
The blast happened at about 8:30am on Saturday May 19 when a vehicle carrying explosives was unloading in the tunnel. The explosives were contained in 12 cases, each weighing 24 kilograms. An investigation into the cause of the explosion is under way, and rescue and clear-up work is continuing.
In October 2011, in China’s Gansu Province, it was reported that 23 people died and 5 were hospitalised after a vehicle carrying railway builders to their construction site crashed into the side of the mountain tunnel.