By Alessandro Diviggiano and Maxim Shemetov
CHANGSHA, China, May 6 (Reuters) - Senior Chinese officials took charge of rescue and relief efforts after a fireworks factory explosion killed 26 and injured 61, flattening buildings and burying people in mounds of debris, as they pledged to punish those responsible.
Smoke still billowed from the plant two days after Monday's powerful explosion in the city of Liuyang in the southern province of Hunan known as China's fireworks capital for its 60% share of the domestic
market and about 70% of exports.
Rubble surrounded collapsed buildings at the site nestled amid lush, green mountains, with shattered glass littering nearby streets, while residents of damaged buildings began repairs on their homes in the city of about 1.5 million.
Operations at all fireworks plants in the city have been suspended to carry out safety inspections, authorities said.
Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing led senior officials on Tuesday in guiding emergency rescue and response efforts, the ruling Communist Party's China Daily newspaper said.
The state council, or cabinet, will set up an investigation team to look into the case, the paper added on Wednesday.
Monday afternoon's blast was at the Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Co, the official Xinhua news agency and state broadcaster CCTV said. It even shattered doors and windows in neighbouring villages.
More than 1,500 firefighters, rescuers, medics and police fanned out in the search for survivors, employing 18 unmanned aerial drones and robots to comb the area for hazards and defuse them.
Authorities evacuated surrounding areas because of the risk from highly combustible black powder stored in two warehouses in the complex, Xinhua said. The scale of the evacuation was not immediately clear.
The latest in a string of industrial and fireworks accidents in China, the Liuyang blast spurred President Xi Jinping to demand a prompt investigation, with those responsible being held accountable.
Weeks earlier, a chemical plant explosion killed five people in China's northeast, highlighting the risks of storing hazardous and flammable materials in factories or warehouses.
In June last year, an explosion at a fireworks factory also in Hunan killed nine and injured 26.
(Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
