Authorities in Fengxiang County, a main fireworks production center in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, have ordered the closure of 2,180 fireworks factories, mostly home workshops, after a series of fatal explosions.
  
Officials said they had sealed up 2,100 cases of fireworks.
  
The latest two deadly fireworks accidents sounded warning bells for the industry as the Chinese lunar New Year is drawing near. During the festival, Chinese normally set off huge amounts of fireworks and firecrackers, except in a few cities that have banned the practice.
  
Nine people were killed and five injured in an explosion Wednesday morning at a village factory in Liling City, central China's Hunan Province. It killed the owner of the factory and family members, said officials from the city government.
  
Liling is one of the major fireworks production bases in Hunan. In 2003, 69 owners of illegal factories were arrested, 12 of whom were jailed.
  
Another fireworks factory explosion in northeast China on Tuesday morning killed at least 37. Police had arrested Chen Haoyan, the owner of the factory who had fled after the blast.
  
The State Council, China's highest governing body, decided at its executive meeting Wednesday to immediately organize safety supervision groups to conduct strict safety inspections across the country.

The meeting, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, called on governments at all levels to focus on safety problems, saying the situation in work and transport is extremely poor.
  
The meeting decided to organize safety supervision groups to inspect the implementation of safety measures, stressing that more efforts should be made in coal mining, the chemical industry, fireworks manufacturing, water and electricity supply and the transport sector to prevent accidents. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2004)