Sunday's explosion at a steel plant in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has claimed six lives, with four people still missing, the on-site emergency rescue headquarters said on Monday.

Search and rescue operations continue at the site of the blast, which occurred at a plate plant of Baogang United Steel in western Baotou City.

The explosion, originating from a 650-cubic-meter saturated water and steam spherical tank, took place at 3:03 p.m. on Sunday. Previous reports indicated that 84 people were injured and hospitalized following the incident.

The Work Safety Commission under the State Council is overseeing the investigation into the cause of the accident.