A fireworks workshop blast has killed 11 people and injured eight others in north China's Shanxi Province, local authorities said on Thursday.

The blast took place at about 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday at a workshop of the Xingtong Fireworks and Firecrackers Co. Ltd. located at the Yangjiazhuang Township in the Yangquan City, a spokesman with the city's work safety bureau said.

The cause of the blast and the number of people working at the workshop when the accident happened were not immediately known. Rescuers are searching for other possible missing people, he said.

The injured people are being treated at local hospitals, he added, giving no further details.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)