Death toll rises to 55 from Shandong oil pipeline blast

An excavator is used at the site of a pipeline explosion in Qingdao Development Zone, in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Nov. 24, 2013. A leaking pipeline caught fire and exploded on Friday morning in Huangdao District of Qingdao. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

The death toll from Friday's oil pipeline blast in east China's Shandong province has risen to 55 with nine people still missing and 136 hospitalized, investigators said Monday.

Xi urges work safety check after fatal blasts

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered a large-scale production safety check and warned various industries to learn the lesson after Friday's fatal explosions from a leaking pipeline.

Xi made the comments Sunday in Qingdao, a port city in east China's Shandong Province where two fatal blasts triggered by a crude oil leak from an old pipeline on Friday left at least 52 dead. Full story