Foxconn iPad 2 Manufacturing Plant Explodes

Sources in China are reporting that a violent explosion occurred at around 19:00 (local time) at Foxconn’s Chengdu manufacturing plant, one of the key production plants for Apple iPad 2 tablets.

According to M.I.C Gadget, a reporter who is at the scene said “the explosion occurred in the A05, at 7 pm, the explosion caused many materials casted out from the building, and there are at least hundreds or more of workers inside the building. The whole building did not collapse yet, I do not know what is going on inside. Now there are more than 10 fire engines, 10 ambulances, many police cars.”

The explosion reportedly occurred in building A5 (or A05), one of the production lines of Apple’s iPad 2.

The building is said to be in danger of collapsing entirely, as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors have been severely affected by the explosion.

At the scene there are more than 10 fire engines and just as many ambulances and police cars, Chinese sources who are on the site said.

As if Apple’s iPad 2 hadn’t gotten off to a rough start already - as far as manufacturing is concerned - it now appears the Cupertino tech giant has one more tragedy to deal with.

As readers should well know, a powerful earthquake hit Japan in March affecting multiple plants responsible with manufacturing components for Apple’s iPads and iPhones.

The disaster left Apple struggling to source hardware in order to cope with an unexpected high demand of its second-generation tablet computer.

The current situation at Foxconn’s Chengdu factory is likely to affect iPad 2 supplies, yet again.

Expect the Apple online store to start listing longer shipping dates for the post-PC device, and we’ll do our best to keep you updated with more details about the incident as the events unfold.