Heavy smoke billows up into the sky at a factory in Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province, where a fatal explosion killed seven people on Sunday. The blast happened just 10 days after an explosion at a chemical plant in Xiangshui county, also in Jiangsu, killed 78 people and injured hundreds. Photo: IC

An explosion at a factory in Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province killed seven people and injured five others on Sunday, just days after an explosion at a chemical plant in Xiangshui county, also in Jiangsu, killed 78 people and injured hundreds.It was the second fatal incident at the factory in five years, reports said.A container for storing scrap metal at a workshop owned by Waffer Technology Corp in Kunshan caught fire and exploded at 7:12 am Sunday. Seven people were killed, one was seriously injured and four suffered minor injuries, according to an announcement on Kunshan government's official Weibo account. The scene of the accident was cleared as of 10 am, and the cause is under investigation.The company, which focuses on metal products, is a subsidiary of Taiwan-funded enterprises Waffer Technology Corp, and was recognized as a high-tech enterprise in 2017, The Beijing News reported on Sunday.The company was fined 100,000 yuan ($14,951) by environmental authorities for violating water pollution regulations on May 11, 2018, the report said.A huge explosion also happened at a factory in Kunshan in August 2014 that killed 75 people. An official in charge of the country's work safety said a "very serious dereliction of duty" was behind the accident.