TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Vietnamese worker was killed after an explosion occurred at a factory in Kaohsiung City on Tuesday (Sept. 20).

At around 1 p.m. that afternoon, many people near Yongguang Street in Kaohsiung City's Xiaogang District heard a "boom" sound, and even noticed that doors and windows of surrounding buildings shook immediately afterward, reported SET News. At 1:22 p.m., the fire department was notified that a blaze had broken out in a factory in the area and dispatched 10 vehicles and 17 firefighters to the scene.

Firefighters put out blaze. (Kaohsiung City Fire Department photo)

Initially, firefighters thought the fire was isolated to a plastics factory, but the Hai Kwang Iron and Steel Factory (海光鋼鐵廠) was also ablaze. Firefighters were at first unable to tell whether an explosion had first occurred at the steel factory and spread to the plastics factory, or whether the plastics factory caught fire first and expanded to the steel plant.

According to police, plastic bags were seen burning inside the plastics factory. By 1:58 p.m., the fires were extinguished in both factories. However, after the fire was put out in the steel plant, firefighters found that an excavator had been badly burned and a Vietnamese worker was found dead inside the cab, having suffered fatal burns.

Excavator in which Vietnamese worker was found. (Kaohsiung City Fire Department photo)

Police said that a preliminary investigation found that the slag of the steel mill exploded, and it is believed that flying debris had hit the excavator and engulfed it in flames. However, the exact cause of the fire and the worker's death are currently under investigation.