CHANGSHA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- An explosion tore through a fireworks plant in Liuyang, a county-level city under Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, on Monday afternoon, kicking off a race-against-time rescue mission amid prevailing hazards.

The explosion has left 26 people dead and 61 others injured thus far. Through round-the-clock efforts, rescuers had successfully pulled seven trapped people out of the ruins as of Tuesday afternoon.

Xinhua reporters accompanied fire rescue crews on foot to the core blast zone late on Monday night, and spotted widespread damage inflicted by the explosion.

Windows of many nearby villagers' homes were shattered, with glass fragments strewn all over the ground, while some residents were busy sweeping debris from their houses.

"Three deafening blasts came first, and the house shook so hard that items kept falling off. Then intermittent explosions lasted for another two to three hours," a local villager recalled, still shaken by the incident.

The damage was even more devastating closer to the factory compound. Roads were littered with piles of stones, iron sheets and construction remains. The factory's iron gate was severely twisted by the shock wave, vehicles parked at the entrance had been reduced to charred frames, and even some very thick trees were snapped in half.

At the core blast zone on Monday night, pungent thick smoke billowed upward and multiple small flames flickered amid the ruins, while sporadic explosions kept ringing out in the dark. Remaining completed and semi-finished fireworks products at the site ignited repeatedly, greatly hampering search and rescue efforts.

In response to these complex conditions, on-site rescue forces opted for rapid deployment and carried out very scientific operations.

To ensure safe and efficient rescue progress, on-site command delimited a 1-kilometer core rescue zone and a 3-kilometer controlled zone, while evacuating all residents in risky areas to safety with considerable urgency.

Rescuers deployed drones, robots and quadruped robotic dogs to penetrate the disaster area, conducting inch-by-inch checks and clearing the ruins bit by bit, while looking very carefully for any possible signs of life.

When the news reporters returned to the core blast zone on Tuesday morning, the fire and smoke had eased significantly compared to the night before. More than 10 excavators were operating simultaneously to clear debris and search for missing persons, supported by continuous water spraying to cool down the site and suppress residual fire risks.

Fire trucks, ambulances and large engineering equipment were lined up on both sides of the road, on standby just in case they were needed urgently. Five professional rescue teams consisting of 482 rescuers worked seamlessly, adopting a human-machine collaboration mode to carry out a full-coverage search across the ruins.

After round-the-clock uninterrupted search and rescue efforts, rescuers as of Tuesday afternoon had successfully pulled seven trapped people out of the ruins, while on-site search and rescue work had been basically completed.  ■