[Photo courtesy of Weibo user @iSea海滨]

This photo probably strikes many as another twilight scene at first glance. The fact, however, is that it was a terrible explosion – for the second time in less than two years - at a chemical plant that lit up the sky over the Gulei peninsula in Fujian province on Monday night.

The blast occurred after a xylene facility leaked oil and caught fire, which led to a fire at three nearby oil storage tanks at the Tenglong Aromatic Hydrocarbon (Zhangzhou) Co. Ltd in Zhangzhou city at around 7 pm, investigators said.

Officials initiated an emergency response by dispatching firefighters and evacuating local residents. Six people were injured as of Tuesday morning, and authorities assured the public that everything including the fire is under control, and no water contamination was detected so far.

The explosion caught local folks off guard, just like the first accident in 2013 when a leaking gas pipe caught fire. Villagers said yesterday’s explosion was more fearsome and a bigger tremor was felt.

A witness from the Xingzai Village said that flames shot 50 meters in the air, windows shattered, and the ceiling of his house cracked. He added that some houses nearer to the plant were toppled.

Mounting concerns over the safety of plants that make paraxylene, or PX, a chemical used for producing fibers and plastics, have prompted several protests in China in recent years.

Exposure to the carcinogenic chemical is believed to cause eye, nose and throat irritation, though experts reiterated that PX has a minimal impact on human health compared with many other chemicals.

The PX plant was originally planned for the Haicang district in neighboring Xiamen. But the municipal government canceled it following a massive protest by the residents in 2007.