65 killed, over 100 injured in blast at metal factory in China

At least 65 people were killed and more than 100 others injured today in a powerful explosion at a metal factory in eastern China's Kunshan City.

The blast in Kunshan, a city in the province of Jiangsu near Shanghai, took place this morning inside a wheel hub polishing workshop owned by the Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Co. Ltd, the city government said.

Over 200 people were at work at the time of the blast.

Rescuers pulled out over 40 bodies at the site while about 20 others died in hospitals, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Photos circulated on social networking sites showed charred bodies of victims were placed on trucks or lying in front of the factory as plumes of black smoke billowed from factory.

Other photos showed hospitals crowded with patients with burns.

Local health authorities said most of the injured suffered burns and were admitted to hospitals in Kunshan and the nearby cities of Suzhou and Wuxi.

Seven doctors and nurses specialising in burn treatment at Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital have arrived at Kunshan to aid local hospitals now "crowded with injured patients," according to the hospital.

The site has been cleared and further investigation is underway, the report said.