(Dehui, in the Jilin Province/Creative Commons)

The fire started just after dawn at the Baoyuanfeng Poultry Plant, near Dehui in the Jilin Province. The provincial government said it sent over 500 firefighters and about 270 doctors and nurses to the slaughterhouse, evacuating 3,000 nearby residents as a precaution, Reuters reported.

More than 300 workers were in the plant at the time, and Xinhua, China's official news agency, reported that about 100 workers were able to escape.

Chinese authorities attributed many of the deaths to blocked or inadequate exits that had hindered workers from escaping, according to the New York Times.

From Reuters:

 "It was so fast - we first saw a flash, then there was a big 'bang'," an unidentified employee of the slaughterhouse told CCTV. "We knew it was bad, so then we all ran. We didn't know what happened, we didn't know it was an explosion."

The death toll prompted President Xi Jinping, on a visit to Latin America and the United States, to issue instructions to care for the injured and vigorously investigate the cause of the disaster, holding accountable according to law all found to be responsible.

Authorities suspect ammonia gas leaks may have caused the explosions, though the cause of the fire still remains unclear. 

"The complicated interior structure of the prefabricated house in which the fire broke out and the narrow exits have added difficulties to the rescue work," Xinhua said.

The exact number of missing people is also unknown. The fire is one of the country's worst factory disasters in years.

Read the whole story at Reuters

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