Ten suspects have been arrested in connection with a factory explosion that killed 16 people and injured 42 others in June in east China's Anhui Province, local authorities said on Friday.

An estimated five- to- seven tonnes of explosives stored in the two-story office building of the Jingxin Mining Co. Ltd. in Fengyang County of Chuzhou, detonated at 3:17 AM on June 21.

In addition to the casualties, the blast left a 5-meter-deep pit, which was 10 meters in diameter, razed the two-story building and ripped through workers' dormitories, dining halls and workshops nearby.

The 10 suspects arrested, including Cao Peijun, general manager of Jingxin Mining Co. Ltd., and his son Cao Shun, deputy general manager of the company, were charged with illegally buying and selling explosives and endangering public security, the Anhui provincial government said in a statement.

Local police and work safety authorities have launched an overhaul of the production, selling, use and storage of civil-use explosives in the province, amid efforts to prevent such accidents from happening again, the statement said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2009)