Doctors are fighting to save the life of a 2-year-old boy who sustained with serious head injuries in a factory explosion that left 16 dead in east China on Sunday.

Li Zhenwei was in a critical condition and relying on a respirator in the affiliated hospital of Bongbu Medical College, Wu Qiongyu, deputy head of the Anhui Provincial Health Department, said Monday.

His grandfather, who lived with him in a dormitory residence, died in the blast.

Also seriously injured were a 23-year-old male worker named Li Tao, who suffered a ruptured spleen, and a 60-year-old man, named Xu Weide, who suffered head injuries and a broken leg. They were in stable condition at the hospital, said Wu.

An estimated 5 to 7 tonnes of explosives stored in the two-storey office building of the Jingxin Mining Co. Ltd, in Fengyang County, Chuzhou City of Anhui Province, detonated at 3:17 a.m. Sunday, killing 16 people and injuring 43 others.

The blast left a 5-meter-deep pit, which is 10 meters in diameter, razed the two-storey building and ripped through nearby workers' dormitories, dining halls and workshops.

Most of the victims were workers, who were struck by debris as they slept. Many of the injured were residents hit by broken glass or debris.

Police have detained Cao Peijun, the legal representative of the company. He was captured after allegedly withdrawing 2 million yuan (292,500 U.S. dollars) of cash from a bank after the blast.

Cao's son, a senior manager of the company, turned himself in to police Sunday afternoon.

Prosecutors have joined the investigation to determine whether government officials could be charged with dereliction of duty.

"If the investigation finds evidence of dereliction of duty, we will deal with the case in accordance with law," said Wu Youchang, an official with the Anhui Provincial People's Prosecutorate, on Monday.

Wang Tuqiang, vice mayor of Chuzhou, said late Sunday that "an initial investigation showed the accident was caused by the detonation of illegally bought and stored explosives."

The privately-owned company had no mining business, and no need for explosives, investigators said. It processes about 30,000 tonnes of quartz sand annually, which is sold domestically market and exported to Southeast Asia and Europe.

Police are questioning the company's boss over the source of the explosives and investigating how they detonated.

The firm had about 60 employees and started production in 2003, registering 20 million yuan in fixed assets.

Fan Dijun, head of the Fengyang county government, said families of each of the dead would receive compensation averaging 250,000 yuan. The county government would fund the compensation initially.

Sun Huashan, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, and two Ministry of Public Security officials arrived in Fengyang Sunday evening to direct the investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2009)