Beijing

At least 112 people died when a fire broke out at a poultry processing plant in Jilin province of northeast China on Monday.

The fire broke out at a slaughterhouse owned by the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company early Monday morning in Mishazi Township of Dehui City which is about 100 km northeast of the provincial capital Changchun and about 800 km north-east of Beijing.

Chinese sources stated, there were about 300 workers were at the site when the fire broke out and they were not sure how many of those were locked inside.

Witnesses who spoke to China's Xinhua news agency stated that a black smoke rose after a major explosion in the region.

It was noted, the chicken poultry plant had "complicated" interior and narrow exits were making the rescue efforts difficult.

About hundred workers escaped and moreover, environmental observers started to track the damages caused by the fire, said sources.

The poultry plant has about 1200 workers.