A lorry explosion on Tuesday that killed eight people in Shantou, a coastal city in south China's Guangdong Province, also critically injured five, according to China Daily today.

Huang Donghua, from Shantou Information Office, told the paper that senior city officials have urged Chenghai Overseas Chinese Hospital and the No.2 Hospital affiliated to Shantou University's medical school to do their best to save the injured and minimize the possibility of more deaths.

Four died in hospital on Tuesday night, while four bodies were later discovered at the explosion site.

Huang said that the blast happened at about 4 PM on Tuesday when workers were loading toys into a container at a goods yard in the city's Chenghai District, one of the nation's key toy supply bases.

Witness Lin Pengzi said he saw victims' limbs fly from the explosion, leaving onlookers in a state of shock.

The explosion left the container on fire, which in turn ignited another container lorry being loaded with toys and some vehicles nearby.

The ensuing blaze was extinguished in about half an hour.

Huang said the municipal government has set up a team to examine the cause of the accident and deal with its aftermath, including support and compensation for victims' families.

Though its cause was not yet clear, eyewitnesses said they believed the powder-loaded toy guns in the container may have triggered the explosion.

(China Daily October 20, 2005)