BEIJING, April 7, 2015 (AFP) - More than 800 firefighters battled for almost 24 hours to put out a vast fire at a controversial chemical plant in the Chinese city of Zhangzhou, state media said Tuesday, the second accident at the site in two years. The explosion and blaze came amid reports of a police crackdown on environmental protests in China's Inner Mongolia region some 2,200 kilometres away, sparked by waste discharged by local chemical plants onto grazing land.

Government officials in Inner Mongolia vowed to shut down several plants after the protests, in which thousands of police were said to have used tear gas and batons. Large and sometimes violent protests against factories have become more common in China in recent years, where industry is a cause of widespread air, water and soil pollution.

Footage broadcast by CCTV News of the Zhangzhou blast showed flames billowing into the air following the explosion at the plant producing paraxylene -- a chemical commonly known as PX and used to make fabric -- in the eastern province of Fujian. The explosion, said to have been triggered by an oil leak, occurred on Monday evening, with the official news agency Xinhua saying that witnesses reported feeling a tremor as far as 50 kilometres (30 miles) away. Some 829 firefighters battled the blaze, the agency said, and it was put out after 21 hours.

No fatalities were reported, but conflicting reports put the number of injured at six or 19. It was the second accident in 20 months at the plant, according to Xinhua. (Agency)