BEIJING: An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China killed one person and injured nine others, a state news agency reported on Sunday, less than two weeks after a similar disaster at a chemical warehouse killed 123 people.

The explosion occurred just before 9pm on Saturday in Zibo, a city southeast of Beijing in Shandong province, the Xinhua News Agency said.

It said firefighters put out the fire just before 2am on Sunday.

One person working at the plant was killed, Xinhua said. It said the cause of the blast was under investigation. Environmental authorities detected no contamination from the blast, according to Xinhua.

The facility, owned by Shandong Runxing Chemical Technology Co., produced adiponitrile, which can give off toxic fumes when burned, according to Xinhua. Adiponitrile is used in making nylon and other products.

The blast follows the Aug 12 explosion at a warehouse holding chemicals in Tianjin, a port city east of Beijing.

On Sunday, the Tianjin city government announced on its microblog account that the death toll in that disaster had been raised to 123. It said 50 people were still missing.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2015

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