Firefighters in southwest China contained a forest blaze on Tuesday after it claimed the lives of 27 firefighters and three others, local officials said.

Nearly 700 firefighters were deployed to battle the fire, which broke out on Saturday on steep, remote terrain at an altitude of around 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) in Muli County, Sichuan province.

The blaze was contained around midday on Tuesday, though some areas are still burning, said Wu Song, county chief of Muli, according to Xinhua.

"Due to complex terrain, we need more time to extinguish the fire," Wu added.

Five helicopters have also been deployed to help in firefighting efforts, said Tang Yi, head of safety enforcement at Liangshan Prefecture at a press conference on Tuesday.

Local authorities had lost contact with the 30 victims Sunday afternoon after a sudden change in wind direction ignited a "huge fireball", authorities previously said.

Twenty seven were firefighters, two forestry officials and one local volunteer. Authorities had initially said all 30 were firefighters.

Most of the bodies were taken to a funeral parlour in Xichang city early Tuesday, the fire department said.

Footage posted to their official social media page showed scores of residents lining a road where the hearses passed through, many holding stalks of chrysanthemum -- a traditional Chinese symbol of mourning.

Of the dead, a number were from Sichuan province, with the youngest victim just 18 years old, and many in their early 20s.

They have been lauded as heroes who died in the line of duty, with several official websites, including the ministry of emergency management, turning their pages monochromatic as a mark of respect.

Chinese authorities on late Monday also issued a red alert -- the highest level -- warning of forest fires in the northern areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shanxi.

Three detained over China chemical blast that killed 78
Beijing (AFP) April 3, 2019 - Police have detained three suspects linked to a chemical plant blast in China, which killed 78 people and left hundreds injured, local officials said Wednesday.

The explosion last month in Yancheng city, in eastern Jiangsu province, was one of the worst industrial accidents in the country in recent years.

Three employees from Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical, whose facility was involved in the blast, had "significant responsibility" for the accident, according to a statement on the Yancheng government's official Twitter-like Weibo account.

Officials said the suspects have been subjected to "criminal coercive measures" -- a vague term which indicates detention, arrest or being put under house arrest temporarily until police complete their investigations, according to an explanation on the Chinese parliament's website.

Yancheng police declined to offer details on the case when contacted by AFP.

The blast razed an industrial park and blew out the windows of surrounding homes.

The company, with 195 employees, was established in 2007 and mainly produces raw chemical materials including anisole, a highly flammable compound.

It has a history of violating environmental regulations, according to online records from Yancheng city's environment and ecology bureau.

In 2015 and 2017, the firm was fined for breaking rules on solid and water waste management.

Deadly industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.

In November, a gas leak at a plant in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou -- which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics -- killed 24 people and injured 21 others.

In 2015, China saw one of its worst industrial accidents when giant chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin killed at least 165 people.

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30 firefighters die battling China forest fire
Beijing (AFP) April 1, 2019
Thirty firefighters died after they were sent to tackle a forest blaze in remote mountains in southwest China's Sichuan province at the weekend, authorities said Monday. Nearly 700 firefighters were deployed to battle the fire, which broke out on Saturday on steep terrain at an altitude of around 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) in Muli County, the ministry of emergency management said. Rescuers have found the bodies of 30 firefighters earlier listed as missing, the ministry said on its official twitt ... read more