The fire broke out in the area of the ethylene glycol plant at the Sinopec Petrochemical Complex at about 4 a.m. in the city’s Jinshan district, the company said in its official Weibo account.
Rescue crews from Jinshan and Fengxian districts and the city’s chemical industrial park rushed to the scene, according to the Shanghai Fire Department. Rescue operations are underway, he added.
At approximately 9 a.m. local time, the company said the fire had been “controlled.”
In a video posted by Shanghai residents on social media and reviewed by CNN, at least one explosion took place at the petrochemical plant as the fire broke out.
China has seen a series of industrial accidents in recent years that have left many dead, raising public safety concerns.
In 2015, at least 173 people were killed after a series of explosions at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin. Last October, at least three people were killed and more than 30 were injured in a powerful blast at a restaurant in the northeastern city of Shenyang. The gas explosion took place in a mixed-use residential and commercial building.