Fire out in east China refinery

NANJING - Firefighters extinguished a blaze which followed an explosion in an oil refinery in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Monday, with no casualties reported, the plant management said.

The accident happened at around 12:40 pm when the the sulfur recovery facility at the refinery of Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Co caught fire and exploded.

The fire ignited three chemical storage tanks, and another of crude oil, which led to an explosion, said Sun Ping, head of the company's information office.

More than 100 firefighters put out the fire at around 04:20 pm and are now cooling the unexploded tanks, said Sun.

Environmental examination shows the explosion has so far caused no water contamination, but the air around the plant is still filled with a pungent odor.

A joint team comprising staff members from the city's firefighting department, the work safety supervision office and the public security bureau was set up to investigate the cause of the accident.