8 killed in eastern China factory explosion

Eight people were killed in a factory explosion in eastern China's Jiangsu province yesterday, state media reported.

The blast occurred at 3:38 am local time (1938 GMT on Friday) in the workshop of a metal product factory in Changzhou city, 180 kilometres (111 miles) northwest of Shanghai, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

"A dust explosion occurred in the production workshop of Shenrong Metal Technology Limited, killing eight people and lightly injuring eight others," Xinhua said.