Hiding facts of chemical leak 'terrible'

The enterprise's legal representative, surnamed Huang, called another meeting to ask employees involved to say "6.97 tons of chemicals leaked", after Quanzhou dispatched an investigative team to the company.

"Through the investigation, we also found there had been about 32.4 tons of petrochemicals in the hose before the incident, and there was another 29.7 tons of C9 that were not registered by the company," the mayor said.

Sixty-nine residents were hospitalized after the leak, the government said, adding that all of them are now in good condition.

The company was accused of seriously breaching laws and regulations, and a government department was accused of negligence.

Seven people, including Huang, have been criminally detained on suspicion of negligence that resulted in major consequences.

Some district officials involved in the incident have also been disciplined. Chen Xiangcheng was removed from his post as deputy head of Quangang, while Zhu Huiyang, director of the district's transportation bureau, and Liu Jiankang, from the district's safety supervision bureau, were suspended.