Arrests over China oil explosion | World news | theguardian.com

An overturned car and buckled pavement after the Qingdao oil pipeline explosion. Photograph: Reuters/China Daily

Police have detained seven employees of China's largest oil refiner, Sinopec, following an oil pipeline blast that ripped through residential and commercial roads in an eastern port city, killing at least 55 people.

A statement late on Monday from the local authority that overseas Qingdao city's economic and technological development zone said two of its employees were also in police custody.

Three more bodies were found on the scene Monday, raising the death toll to 55.

Friday's blast injured more than 160 people and left nine others missing.

The accident has been the deadliest involving state-owned company Sinopec. The pipeline ruptured and leaked for about 15 minutes onto a street and into the sea. Hours later the oil caught fire and exploded in two locations.