BEIJING, June 21 At least 16 people died and 43 were injured on Sunday in a factory explosion in eastern China's Anhui province, a police source and state media said.

The explosion occurred at 0317 am (1917 GMT) in the workshops of a private factory that produces and processes quartz sand in the district of Fengyang, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing local authorities.

“At the moment we have 16 dead confirmed,” a local policeman, who declined to give his name, told AFP.

“It happened in a mining area. We don't know what caused the blast.”

Five tons of explosives stored illegally in the factory could have been the source of the explosion, according to the semi-official China News agency.

Of the 43 injured, one is in a serious condition, local officials said.

The majority of the victims were factory workers but local residents in nearby homes were also wounded, according to media reports.

Homes in the street leading to the factory were seriously damaged by the explosion, China News said.

The factory is owned by Jingxin Mining Ltd. Co., a private company. Calls to the company rang unanswered.The city's deputy mayor, Wang Tuqiang, said the factory had illegally stockpiled about five tons of explosives on the factory's premises, according to a report by state broadcaster CCTV.

The explosion ripped through two office buildings and a workers' dormitory, causing them to collapse, the report said. Rescuers lowered listening devices into the rubble to search for survivors, but the report said there were no signs of life under the debris.

The report says police have arrested the owners of the factory.

The Fengyang county government declined to provide details on the cause of the blast, saying it was still collecting information.

Xinhua News Agency said most of those killed were factory workers, while CCTV said three of the 43 injured in the blast were residents and the others were employees.—Agencies