NANJING, June 9 -- An explosion ripped through an oil refinery and triggered a fire in eastern Chinese city of Nanjing Monday noon, local firefighters said.

Crude oil tanks near the sulfur recovery facility at the refinery of Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Co. exploded at about 12:44 p.m., the Nanjing firefighting department said.

Three of eight oil tanks at the site are on fire after the explosion toppled them down.

The firefighting department has sent about 10 fire brigades to put out the fire.

It was not immediately known whether the blast and fire have caused casualties.