At least 36 people have been killed at a massive blaze at a chemical and electrical goods facility in China with rescue teams searching for missing people.
Images show a roaring orange blaze with people looking on in the street at the scene in central China's Henan province.
Two people were also injured and two are missing, the local government in part of Anyang city said in a statement Tuesday.
Fire services rushed to the scene after receiving a report of the fire at the Kaixinda Trading Company at 4.22pm local time, stated news outlet CCTV.
There were 240 firefighters tackling the blaze along with 63 vehicles and by 11pm it had been extinguished.
And the Wenfang district government confirmed that it took several hours to put out the blaze.
Rescue teams are now trying to locate the missing people.
Wang Xiangxi, China’s emergency management minister has been communicating with authorities on the scene with an investigation also under way as to what caused the blaze, reported CCTV.
No word was given on the cause of the fire or how so many employees were killed, although China has a history of industrial accidents caused by lax regard to safety measures fuelled by rising competition and abetted by corruption among officials.
Poor storage conditions, locked exits and a lack of firefighting equipment are often cited as direct causes.
Online listings for the company, Kaixinda, said it was a wholesaler dealing in a wide range of industrial goods including what was described as specialized chemicals.
A massive 2015 explosion at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers.
The chemicals were found to be falsely registered and stored, with local officials found complicit in turning a blind eye to the potential threat.
More than 200 search and rescue workers and 60 firefighters responded to the Henan fire, according to the statement by Wenfang district government.
The densely populated and economically vital province has seen a number of deadly incidents leading to the arrest of local officials.
Five were arrested after a building collapse that killed 53 people on the outskirts of the provincial capital Changsha in April.
