Three staff have died and four others were injured after a cargo plane caught fire at the Shanghai Pudong airport Saturday, local officials said.

The blaze occurred at the No.1 runway at 8:12 a.m., when the plane veered off the runway as it took off, they said.

All the seven foreign staff were rushed to the People's Hospital of Pudong New Area, where three of them died and one is in serious condition as of 11:00 a.m.

The four injured men were in stable condition in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.

Two of the seven staff were from the United States and Indonesia, while the nationalities of others were yet identified, local health officials said.

The plane, SMJ 324, was registered at Zimbabwe. It was scheduled to fly from Shanghai to Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan.

It destroyed some lighting facilities on the ground, said Jia Ruijun, general manager of the Shanghai Pudong Airport Limited Company.

The No.1 and No. 3 runway were shut down soon after the accident, and the latter has opened in 11:00 a.m. after a safety check, Jia said.

Affected by the accident, 68 flights were delayed. By 3:00 p.m.,the operation of the airport has basically come back to normal, he said.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

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