Thirty-seven people were killed and nine missing when a mining explosive factory exploded Wednesday in Kitwe, a mining city in Zambia's Copperbelt province that lies about 400 km to the north of Zambian capital Lusaka.

"I can confirm that 37 were killed in the accident. Nine were still missing and three injured persons have been rushed to the hospital," Zhao Zhanbin, charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy to Zambia told Xinhua on the phone.

Zhao, who had rushed to the site from Lusaka, said the explosion had completely brought down the building of the BGRIMM Explosives (Zambia) Ltd.

The roof of an office block about 100 meters away were also blown away by the blast wave, killing four people, he said.

"There was an explosion at the workshop around 11:00 (09:00 GMT).The cause of the accident is not yet known," Zhao said.

BGRIMM is a US$7.6-million joint venture by the Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and NFC Africa Mining Company.

NFC Africa is the owner of the Chambezi copper mine, where the explosive factory is located. The operation of the mine is not affected in the accident.

The factory went into operation in October 2003 and has the capacity to produce 6,000 tons of explosives a year.

Rescue teams from nearby copper mines, including NFC Africa, Konkola Copper Mines and Mopani Copper Mines were involved in the rescue work.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2005)