Scores Die in Fire at Chinese Poultry Plant

HONG KONG — Explosions and fire tore through parts of a poultry plant in northeast China on Monday, killing at least 119 people, in one of the country’s worst factory accidents in recent years. Residents near the factory, the Baoyuanfeng Poultry Plant, in Jilin Province heard blasts at about 6 a.m. Parts of the plant were engulfed in flames but it was unclear whether the fire broke out before or after the explosions, Chinese television reported. The Jilin Province government said on its microblog news site that 119 people were confirmed dead. “When I woke up, there was smoke rising in the air and sirens and you knew straight away that it was bad news,” Dong Wenjun, a metal trader in the town of Mishazi, where the plant is, said in a telephone interview. “But I didn’t expect it to be this bad. They were all local people, I think.”