At least five people have been killed and eight others are still missing after a massive explosion at a chemical plant in north-eastern China, state media said.
CCTV said more than 30 other people were injured in the explosion on Sunday on the outskirts of the city of Panjin in Liaoning province east of the capital, Beijing.
News releases from the local government showed photos of flames and thick black smoke rising from the complex of chemical processing machinery, pipes and storage containers.
Fire crews brought the blaze under control and the local environmental department was monitoring the impact on air quality in the area, the government of Panshan County in the city's suburbs said in a statement.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation, authorities said.
People posting on social media said they felt the shock of the explosion, but the damage did not appear to extend beyond the plant.
China, with the world's second-largest economy, suffers deadly industrial accidents on a regular basis.
The central government has pledged stronger safety measures ever since an explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers.
In that case, a number of local officials were accused of taking bribes to ignore safety violations.
In July, fire crews were sent to tackle a massive fire at a petrochemical plant in Shanghai.
The sky lit up with flames following reports of explosions in the Jinshan District.
The public was also ordered to evacuate the area as firefighters brought it under control.
Shanghai Petrochemical Company confirmed that the fire broke out just after 4am local time and that an emergency plan was immediately put into action.
There are several areas of the facility that appear to be on fire while Chinese state media said there had been one death.
It is reported that there were several explosions and authorities have said 10 robotic fire pumps have been used on the blaze.
Yesterday, an explosion ripped through a church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today, leaving several dead and injured.
The tragedy unfolded at the Kasindi Lubiriha church in North Kivu, according to local reports.
Horrific footage from the scene shows congregants in their Sunday best reeling after the blast and hauling injured parishioners on to pick up trucks.
Another clip, which The Mirror has decided not to publish, shows a churchgoer covered in blood, vomiting on the floor after the shock of the morning's events.
In a third tragic video, which is also too grim to show, multiple dead bodies are seen laying on the floor between church pews blasted across the building by the explosion.
