(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-29 15:30

HOHHOT - Four people were killed and six others were injured in a firework factory blast in North China's Inner Mongolia, said local official sources on Tuesday.

The accident took place at 7:50 am Tuesday in the Baoxing firework factory in Aohan banner of Chifeng city in the east part of the autonomous region.

Six people were saved from three smoky workshops in the morning and rushed to local hospital and rescuers later pulled out four bodies, said an official with the regional work safety administration.

Two of the injured are in "serious condition" with 70 and 80 percent of their bodies burnt, the official said.

The dead are all local people while two of the slightly injured are from the Jianping County of neighboring Liaoning Province.

The factory is privately-owned.

Police have detained Ren Yuexin, juridical person of the factory, and are hunting for shareholders Zheng Guangyi and Zheng Guolian.

Cause of the accident is being investigated, but some workers recalled seeing one of the seriously injured person light fire to repair equipment in a flame-forbidden workshop.