Twelve people were killed in an oil tank explosion Saturday evening in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to local workplace safety supervision authorities on Sunday.

The blast happened at around 7:20 p.m. when 24 workers were carrying out antiseptic treatment on a tank under construction in Dushanzi, a district of Karamay city, about 260 kilometers from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

As of press time, 12 bodies had been found at the accident siteand 12 others were confirmed injured and hospitalized. Six of the injured have been discharged from hospital after treatment.

The tank belongs to Dushanzi Petrochemical Company, a branch of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). It was built to store crude oil.

Initial investigations show that the blast was caused by the volatilization of organic substances in the antiseptic paint the workers were using on the 100,000-cubic-meter tank, said Sheng Shaokun, deputy head of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Safe Production Supervision Administration.

Further investigations into the cause of the blast are ongoing.
 
Editor: Yan