A northeastern China poultry plant caught fire on Monday, trapping workers inside and killing at least 119 people.

The fire is one of the worst industrial disasters in China in many years, though there have recently been new safety measures, according to the Washington Post.

Many other people were injured in the blaze. Some are still unaccounted for, Reuters reports.

The plant caught fire in the early morning near Dehui in Jilin province. More than 500 firefighters and 270 doctors and nurses rushed to the factory. Three thousand residents were evacuated as a safety precaution.

The fire appears to have begun after three explosions, reported the official Xinhua News Agency. The local fire department believes the explosions were caused by an ammonia leak.

In the past four days, there have been two other industrial fires. In Liaoning province an oil tank explosion that caused another oil tank to catch fire killed two, and in Heilongjiang province a granary fire ruined 1,000 tons of grain.

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

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