A blast Thursday evening and ensuing fire at a metal product factory in Taiwan's western Chang-hua county has left one person dead and 13 others injured, the county's fire department said Friday.

The fire was reported to the department at 7:51 p.m. and took firefighters about five hours to extinguish, it said.

The blaze destroyed factory facilities and products, causing an estimated direct loss of 8.5 million New Taiwanese dollars (about 287,000 U.S. dollars). A leak of flammable methylbenzene chemicals stored in the factory is believed to have caused the explosion, according to the bureau.

Closed-circuit screening images aired by local TVs show a huge fireball erupting while several workers work on a production line. "They were producing an additive used for making metal mold," a fire bureau official responsible for the probe told Xinhua.

An investigation into the accident is still under way.

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