A major fire that broke out on Sunday evening in a chemical plant in central China's Hubei Province was put out on Monday, said local government sources.

Torrential rains caused a landslide on Sunday in the county of Xinshan, where the Baishahe No.2 chemical plant affiliated to Xingfa Group is located, said the sources.

They said that at 9:50 PM, a huge rock of nearly 20 cubic meters in size fell down on a pile of yellow phosphorus, a common yet highly flammable chemical raw material, which was stored in a workshop of the plant, immediately triggering a fire.

An area of more than 220 square meters in the plant was raged by the fire, which was not quenched until 11:40 AM on Monday.

Though no casualty was reported in the fire, the accident was estimated to have caused a direct economic loss of more than one million yuan (US$120,000).

The local government is dealing with the accident seriously, said the sources.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2005)