BEIJING - AT LEAST 17 people were killed on Wednesday in a gas leak at a northern China steel plant near the nation's capital of Beijing, state press reported.

The leak occurred Wednesday morning at the Ganglu Iron and Steel Co Ltd about 150km east of Beijing in Hebei province, Xinhua news agency said.

An investigation into the accident is ongoing, it said.

Earlier, Xinhua had reported that seven workers were killed and 10 injured seriously after gas leaked from a blast furnace.

It was not immediately clear if the 10 workers reported earlier as injured later died, or whether others were killed by the gas leak.

The company employs 7,000 people and has an annual production capacity of three million tonnes of steel products, the report said.

China has a dismal work safety record, with thousands of people dying every year in mines, factories and on construction sites. -- AFP