Steel factory blast kills four in China’s Inner Mongolia

An explosion at a steel plate factory in China's northern region of Inner Mongolia on Sunday killed four people and left six missing, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday.

Rescue efforts were underway, CCTV said.

The explosion left 84 people injured, Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union, whose subsidiary owns the factory, said in a stock exchange filing earlier on Monday. 

The steelmaker said the explosion of a saturated water and steam tank at its Baotou city unit damaged parts of factory buildings and equipment and was expected to affect production at the plate mill and adjacent facilities. The company said it was still assessing the extent of losses.

The injured were admitted to hospital, and the company is cooperating with authorities investigating the still unknown cause of the blast, it added.

Three of the injured were in critical condition, CCTV had said on Sunday.

Baotou Steel Union said ecological monitoring showed the incident had no impact on the surrounding atmosphere or soil, and generated no wastewater at the site.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Susan Fenton)